The Third Reincarnation
by Airaie
Summary: They say that all the best things in life come in threes. Sometimes the worst things life do as well. First there was Midoriko and Magatsuhi, then came Kikyo and Naraku, and finally Kagome, who wished for the Jewel to disappear forever. But, eventually forever ends, and all souls must be accounted for. Someone is in for a spanking for letting things go so terribly wrong.
1. The End

So after quite an adventure involving flow charts and lots of squiggles on paper that were supposed to represent a linear explanation of multiple people making knots in time, I have finally managed to complete this beast. I am well pleased with it, and I have already started generating an outline for the second book, one more closely matching the Yu Yu Hakusho story line versus the Inuyasha. Poor Koenma... the paperwork just might kill him.

From here on out: If you see anything familiar in here, then it probably isn't mine, because if it was mine, then it would have gone like this instead, now wouldn't it? Also, I apologize. I read a lot and don't necessarily remember where all of my inspirations come from, so if you write, thank you for feeding my addiction for that nebulous intoxicating phrase, _What if?.._

The Prologue: The End

"Shikon!" **_Fiercely_** , so much sorrow for such a _tiny jewel_

"Disappear!" ** _Resolutely_** _,_ Kami let it be _done._

"FOREVER!" **_Desperately_** _,_ no one else needs to _die_ for this!

And so, it was done. The miko would go on to be bound to the future, while her beloved remained in the past. _She would miss him so much!_ Every time she passed the well house on her way to high school, a sharp pain would cut at her heart. But the melancholy was always brief, as her eyes would quickly pass over her hand, gripped tightly to her chest. The red string of fate had bound the two of them together so strongly that their paths had crossed in not one lifetime but _two_. And so she would smile; in the end the two were destined to meet again, it was only a matter of _time_.

And indeed it was; the well had never truly worked at the behest of the jewel. Too many times had something or someone passed through the well without the aid of the jewel. Mistress centipede, Kagome, Inuyasha, Yura, Saya, Sō'unga the voices of the past; and the voices of the present; a handful of objects and a graveyard of bones, and no one _ever_ questioned why, so desperate for it to _work_ _one last time_.

The miko, _finally_ secure in the arms of her beloved, would live out the conclusion of her feudal fairytale. Upon her passing those people who had been touched by her light would build a shrine to her around the well which had brought her into their lives. Higurashi they would call it for her light had finally passed and the world was darker for it. A message left inside to her future family _"Time sets the caged bird free._ "

Truly, in the end, time sets everything free, **even if it takes the end of time to do so**.


	2. The Red Button

Chapter1: The Red Button

"Sir? We have a bit of a problem…" A young ogre in military uniform nervously stands at attention in the doorway. His king is faced away from him, arms crossed behind his back; staring out of a nearly transparent barrier. The barrier was the only separation between _The Spirit World,_ and the dimension outside of it. _If the humans only knew their kami moved through the cosmos on space ships, they would call us aliens instead._

Outside the barrier, a vortex forms from the five forces of the universe: space, time, matter, life, and energy, as they begin to lose their cohesion. They writhe chaotically as the laws that once held them together break down. It is the collapse of a dimension. _It was always so difficult to watch an ending, but he was long past the point where he cowered from difficult things, and he had seen so_ _many_ _endings._

"Well, go on." replies the king after a short moment, remembering the ogre currently trembling in his doorway _._ The young officer takes a deep, shaky breath. "We completed the final sequence Sir." The king sighs, "Yes, I can see that." The officer fidgets. "Time stopped properly, and _The Fates_ finished the tapestry, cutting the last of the threads."

Impatient the king turns around to glare at the officer, "Is there a reason you came to interrupt me only to state the obvious?" The already shaky officer flinches and points one slightly pointed claw out of the barrier. "Sir, there is no longer any time left, but the vortex is still _moving_."

The king's eyes widen as he spins back around and sure enough, the vortex is still moving. Pulling out a data pad he glances down at the readings. Too much war and not enough peace made the dimension uninhabitable well before the projected apocalypse. With a plethora of the elements remaining, and no further plans, the dimension had been a prime candidate for recycling.

 _The Fates_ would finish the tapestry of a dimension, and cut the remainder of the threads, ending time. With time ended, movement would cease, matter would collapse into energy, and the SMBHC (Super Massive Black Hole Capacitors) on _The Spirit World_ , would collect it, leaving the space clean for _The Creator_ and her crew to begin anew.

The king looks grim as he glances up from the data pad at the whirling vortex. Indeed, there was no more time, and matter was mostly collapsing into energy. But something was taking the energy and converting it into time and forcing stabilization before _The Spirit World_ could absorb it. The king sighs and rubs his temples just below his horns "Did you push the red button?" The officer looks uncertain, "The big shiny do-not-push-red button, Sir?" "Yes officer, that button." _Why were his lackeys still so incompetent? Hadn't the military training finally gotten everyone past this stage?_ The officer looks equal parts relived and worried. "Yes Sir, right on cue from _The Fates_ Sir."

The king freezes and slowly looks up at the officer, "The big-shiny-push-to-end-the-universe red button?" The officer nods once more, "Yes Sir." The king frowns at the vortex and the data pad before he closes his eyes and focuses, searching for any connection to it. Deep, deep inside himself he reached, searching for a spark someone had clearly missed. He had been a god of the dead for this dimension once, and was promised the position again once they got the new system up and ready for life. There are some things that _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ and a new name cannot change; _his ability to sense souls was one of them._

He frowns after an age. "Contact _The Assembly_. Tell them we have an immortal object left behind in the objective." The officer nods and snaps to attention. "Sir, yes Sir!" The king sighs as the officer hurries from the room, "What a mess." _It's almost enough to make me wish I hadn't given up my pacifier._


	3. Death by Spanking

Chapter 2: Death by Spanking

There were many ships in the fleet of gods, but none were as massive as _The Assembly,_ and for good reason. _The Assembly_ was built as a meeting place. In the shape of a giant barge set adrift in the oceans of space and time; it held enough room for the ship of every god ever dreamt of to land. The mortal beings who worshiped and feared the gods would never understand, while they argued and fought over small plots of land, fame and love; the gods' claimed _ideas_ as their domain. And just like ideas, they were not bound to any one culture or location, but spread ever outward from their origin; dying, only to be reborn as a new incarnation of what they once were.

And so there he was, King of _The Spirit World_. He was Yama-daiō now; it was always a favorite of his despite the hideous appearance. However, a special spot in his heart remained for the paired incarnations of Enma and Koenma. _There was just something about using a toddler to handle the judgment of souls while keeping an ace up his sleeve in the form of his "Father" that tickled his funny bone. Unfortunately, he would probably be Koenma again rather shortly._

 _He liked to think that he had grown much during this last incarnation, enough to at least take responsibility for his failings_. He winces as he glances at the case and the data files in his hands while steadily walking to _The Amphitheater._ It was much like what you would expect from an amphitheater, if amphitheaters could move through space and time and had enough seats for all the gods. It mostly stayed docked to _The Assembly_ but it had moved before.

 _He was not looking forward to this._ While he was always the first person in a new dimension to die so that he may sit in judgment of those who followed, death by spanking was such a terrible way to go. Finally he reaching his destination, and drawing in one fortifying breath, he takes the last step forward. The doors open with a soft hum. Eyes straight forward, he marches to the table set aside for him in the orchestra. Taking note of the kami who were there, he is only moderately relived. It was a mishmash of pantheons and domains; some were familiar faces, some not. That was jury duty among the gods for you.

It was always eerie when only enough gods for a quorum met, the voices echoed repeatedly with all the empty space, turning even whispers into a cacophony if more than one spoke at a time. _He had never wanted to be in this position again, and to be so over the same immortal object a third time? When he had told the gathered gods that the object had been dealt with? It was a disaster!_

Reaching the table he gently sets the files and the case down, though he knows next to nothing can destroy the jewel inside, no matter how fragile it is in appearance. _The_ _Amphitheater_ , which had slowly quieted upon his entrance, erupts into furious whispers as the gathered gods spot the sparkling jewel. Out from among the voices one stern voice rings out, leaving only silence in its wake. "What is the meaning of this, Yama-daiō?" It was Ame-no-Koyane, the first in charge of divine affairs. Yama holds himself steady. _It wouldn't do to flinch now, not while the eyes were all upon him._

"I come bearing bad news. I was mistaken when I believed the Shikon fiasco resolved." He hurries on, speaking over the resuming whispers. "For those of you who do not remember, or were not involved in the previous assemblies I will summarize. The Shikon no Tama first entered our awareness upon the death of the great miko Midoriko. When her soul arrived in _The Halls of Judgment_ it was fractured, and four aspects of her soul were missing in their entirety. She was given medical attention, and eventually we discovered that she had used the sacred powers she was given by Amaterasu-ōmikami to bind the soul of a powerful yōkai named Magatsuhi."

He reaches for the two case files on top of the pile and places them in the viewer, so that the other gods may review them. _Electronic systems were so much easier to deal with, even if the amount of work was still the same._

"Unfortunately, Magatsuhi was an absorption-amalgamation yōkai with a human soul as the nucleus." _I don't even want to remember how much time we wasted trying to figure out what happened, only to realize that half our problems were because we had three things with the same name: the yōkai, the human nucleus and the evil will of the jewel were_ _all_ _called Magatsuhi..._

"As a miko, Midoriko-san held no sway over the human portion of the yōkai, and the seal irreparably corrupted while it was cast. Instead of surrendering her life energy to bind the yōkai to the earth, she ejected part of her soul and bound part of his soul to it in the form of a jewel." He gestures to the jewel glowing softly on the table; "This jewel unfortunately."


	4. A Perfect Plan

Chapter 3: A Perfect Plan

"While the jewel remained in the mortal plane, we were able to determine quite a bit about it through observation. The Shikon no Tama was constructed from soul material and bound in a shell of conflicting sacred and corruption magic. As there were partial souls inside, it could not be destroyed, and the vying forces of corruption and sacred magic acted like a buffer, resisting all efforts to undo the sealing. In order to resolve the issue, which was clearly outside the authority of my domain I called for an assembly."

"Eventually that assembly came to the conclusion that as the great miko Midoriko was the one to create the jewel, she would have the most synchronicity and consequently the easiest time, unmaking it. Unfortunately in order to do so she would have to be reincarnated as a miko once more." Yama is interrupted by the outrage in the crowd. Speaking over the voices he continues, "In acknowledgment of hardship and suffering inherent in the lives of the holy, be they short and brilliant, or long and grueling, and in accordance with the Soul Protection Act, she was offered a boon in the form of a soul mate."

The crowd immediately hushes. A soul mate was something much more than humans could ever imagine, _and many of them had quite a few ideas_. In reality, it was a promise from the gods that the greatest solace for a soul would not be found when they reached Nirvana, but in the presence of another shaped just for them. A soul had to be greatly troubled for the gods to sanction a soul mate, because in order to appease one soul they had to break another so the pieces would match. The gods involved would have to willingly take up a karmic dept in order to do so and it was _very,_ _very_ hard for a god to pay off a karmic dept.

Yama closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, "As the judge of souls it fell upon me to take on that dept and I did so gladly." _Botan-chan, my precious ferry girl, you gave up so much to help me pay that dept off._ A moment of silence passes and he continues. "The great miko Midoriko, once she recovered enough from her soul fracture, was reincarnated as the miko Kikyō."

A hand goes up in the crowd; it was just barely high enough to be seen over the tiers seats in the auditorium. Yama nods to the god in question. It was the newest incarnation of one of the star kami, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, who was just barely old enough to walk at this point. "What do you mean by recovered? Wasn't she completely missing some pieces? And why couldn't you just pull the pieces out of the jewel?"

Yama smiles grimly. _A thousand weak Shikon would have been simpler than one powerful one in the end._ "Souls are meant to splinter, it is how new souls are born. Much like a starfish when cut apart, in the right conditions both fragments will heal to become two beings. In the case of the Shikon, the corrupted seal was fused tightly to the soul fragments and any time we took one out the curse followed. By leaving the pieces of soul in the jewel, we had one Shikon instead of many." Amatsu-Mikaboshi nods in understanding and Yama continues, placing Kikyō's and Inuyasha's files in the viewer.

"Within the gardens of _The Spirit World_ the great miko Midoriko recovered enough to enter _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ and reincarnate as the miko Kikyō. While she was much weaker than her previous incarnation in all aspects; mostly due to her still healing soul, she performed beautifully. With the arrival of her soul mate, in the form Inuyasha-kun a dog half-yōkai, things were moving along as scheduled. We had intended for the jewel to be unbound by a trick of phrasing."

"After the jewel was drained of power by her first wish; which was to render her soul mate fully human, the jewel would hide inside her body, dormant. She was supposed to go on to live out a peaceful life so that on her death bed, she would wish that her soul would always be at peace. This would still the corrupted seal, negating its buffering properties and allow us to release the trapped soul fragments."

Yama closes his eyes and sighs, "We thought it was a perfect plan. Unfortunately we gravely miscalculated. The great miko Midoriko was not the only soul to lose soul fragments to the jewel, nor was she the only one to recover." He pulls a file out of the pile still sitting on his desk and places it in the viewer.

"As you can see from this file things were a bit complicated, the human nucleus of Magatsuhi, suffered so little harm from the formation of the jewel that no one ever noticed he was part of it. He had passed through _The Halls of Judgment_ several times, garnering a hefty karmic dept in the process. His incarnation as Onigumo was to be his last chance. If his karmic dept had increased, the dept was to be called in."

"In addition to Onigumo, the Shikon itself, containing the soul fragments of two humans and several yōkai had managed to pull together a facsimile of self awareness." Around the room several gods wince, seeing where this was going.

"As his soul was also part of the jewel, but he lacked the sacred powers necessary to act as a buffer, Onigumo was continually feeding energy to the Shikon. Being self aware, the jewel began to conspire against Onigumo, Kikyō-san and Inuyasha-kun for its survival. Onigumo's body was sacrificed to generate another incarnation of Magatsuhi, named Naraku. And like Magatsuhi lusted for Midoriko-sama, Naraku lusted for Kikyō-san. "

"One thing led to another and Kikyō-san was corrupted by the jewel, leading to her death, and the suspended animation of her still half-yōkai soul mate. When she was cremated, she had the jewel burned with her, and using her sacred power she carried the jewel with her into the immortal plain and _The Halls of Judgment_."


	5. The Great Timeout

Chapter 4: The Great Time Out

"As for Naraku, he chose to remain in the human world when _The Proclamation_ issued The Division Proclamation and died a decade later." Yama spots several blank faces in the amphitheater. "The Division Proclamation may be more memorable by its colloquial name, the great time out." _There wasn't anything all that great about it though. Separating the human and yōkai races and throwing up a barrier while their backs were turned, noses in their respective corners was what eventually led to the end of life._

"As part of The Division Proclamation and in reparation for the Shikon fiasco, part of _The Spirit World_ was annexed for the yōkai refugees from the mortal plane. The annexed portion was renamed as the demon world while the mortal plane was renamed the human world. _The Proclamation_ issued the order for every full and part yōkai to migrate to the demon world within a year through the available portals, or face the consequences."

"Given how serious the situation was, _The Arbitrator_ and _The Prosecutor_ were dispatched at the end of the grace period. Any demonic entity remaining in the human world was to be rendered fully human, while any human entity in the demon world was to be rendered fully yōkai." _It took three millennia to catch-up to all of the paperwork that caused, even with the time discrepancy between the human world and The Spirit World._

"If I recall correctly Naraku's cause of death was infection. His soul was promptly dragged to _The Halls of Judgment_ and with the severity of the soul crimes he was found guilty of, sentenced to _The Hell_ for 743,000 years." Yama sighs, "In the meantime another assembly was called and the issue was reviewed taking into consideration the newly acquired data."

"The situation was dire; not only was the matter of the Shikon unresolved, but every god who had been involved with the previous assembly was in on the verge of an oath-breaking. The miko Kikyō was in danger of being deprived of her god-promised soul mate. A second lifetime as a miko had grown her soul so considerably that by the time _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ processed her soul and sent her back to the human world; her soul mate would have died from old age centuries ago."

Yama looks out at a grim faced crowd. _Kami had_ _ **lost names**_ _for oath-breaking before._ "We were forced to initiate a redux by means of _The Well of Time_." Amatsu-Mikaboshi's voice was soft and star bright in the resounding silence that followed. "Um... Couldn't he be reincarnated too?" Yama shakes his head and adds the last file to the viewer.

"Inuyasha-kun had been broken in the gentlest way we could in preparation for is soul mating to Kikyō. The Division Proclamation would have made him human, and a lifetime before reentering _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ would have seen his soul mend too well to qualify as her soul mate. Our options were limited. We could have broken a completely new soul to match hers; forsaking the harm we had done to the first soul we chose for the job. Or we could have chosen to re-break his, accepting that there was a risk we would unravel it. In the end a little time manipulation was the lesser evil, even if it meant reincarnating her as a miko a **third** time."

Yama holds up his hands as voices of outrage ring out, their words indiscernible in their chaos, _but he knew all too well what they were saying, he had been one of those voices last time._ "While sacred powers were not necessary for her to match with her soul mate, there were only so many souls big enough to return the Shikon no Tama to the mortal plane. And it had to be the mortal plane; the Shikon would not unbind outside of it, not even in the hands of Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto with their powers over creation and death."

"With no god or goddess willing to accept the karmic dept for the **destruction** of a soul, splintering was the most anyone could do to the Shikon. The combined efforts of _The Paradox, The Fates, The Executioner,_ and _The Ouroboros_ were not enough to prevent the creation of the jewel in the first place. The Shikon had gathered too much power of existence to be so easily defeated. In the wake of our failures, Kikyō-san volunteered to try again."

"During a stable time period, long before the creation of the jewel, _The Well of Time_ landed outside of the human village of Edo, and with permission of the local land god, a ferry girl was stationed in a sacred tree nearby to maintain vigilance. Nearly 500 years after her death, the miko Kikyō reentered the world as Kagome-san, the daughter of the well's shrine keeper."

"Understandably, with nearly all of her sacred power tied to the Shikon, Kagome-san was even weaker than her previous incarnations in spite of the strength of her massive soul. As the yōkai were mostly trapped on the other side of the barrier, and with the ferry girl still at her post ready to call for help, there were no issues. Upon her 15th birthday _The Well of Time_ activated its fate-matrix drive and an active time gate was opened."

"Our plans promptly turned into a horrific mess. First Kagome-san's soul mate wouldn't acknowledge her, and then parts of her soul were removed to half-incarnate Kikyō-san. Then Naraku got involved, not to mention the overarching issue of the Shikon, which had _somehow_ been soul fractured with an arrow from an untrained Kagome-san. Thankfully in the end Kagome-san received a lifetime with her soul mate and the Shikon was wished away forever." _Two words: hell, hand-basket._

 _It was so_ _ **good**_ _to see Botan-chan after she was dismissed from her post. She was so exuberant once she got out; nothing at all like the other ferry girls. Some days she was the only thing that got me through the paperwork. There was an_ _Age_ _worth of rewritten history to go through as the butterfly effect spread outward from The Well of Time's landing. Some soul judgments barely changed, but others? Complete system overhaul._

Yama shakes his head free of the reminiscence; "It is now apparent that wishing for the jewel to disappear forever was not enough. The moment _The Spirit World_ and _The Fates_ ended time to begin recycling the dimension, the Shikon resurfaced." He pauses a moment, _and now I cast myself at their feet and beg for mercy, please don't let it be death by spanking!_ "I, Yama-daiō, submit myself to the judgment of this assembly for my shameful failings in this matter." He gestures to the jewel on the table before settling into a dogeza bow to the gathered Kami. _Every time that cursed thing sparkles I swear its laughing at us._


	6. Oh Myself No

Chapter 5: Oh Myself No.

It took three days for them to come to a decision. _He couldn't quite decide if he was glad the wait was short or worried that they had come to one so easily._ Yama's hands tremble slightly, so he tucks them into the sleeves of his formal kimono. The doors he was standing outside of opened as Sarutahiko the kami of strength and guidance steps out, "Yama-san, if you would follow me, they are ready to see you now." Bowing, Yama follows him back to the orchestra of _The Amphitheater_. The table was gone now, and the viewer was pushed off to the side, the files still inside. The Shikon remained in its glass case, now sitting on a small pedestal with several runic spells and seals to examine and contain it.

 _Their faces are grim, even little Amatsu-Mikaboshi's. What have they planned for me?_ Ame-no-Koyane rises from his seat and shuffles through the papers in his hands before finding the one he was looking for. Adjusting his glasses he stares down at Yama, "We are done deliberating. As there is no question of your guilt in this matter we moved on straight to your punishment. While there were many options available to us, it was decided that you shall face the worst punishment in our authority to assign." _Oh no… he could feel the spankings already. How many would it take this time?_

"In truth it just narrowly beat out death by spanking." _One million? Two million? Wait… What?_ "You will be responsible for scheduling a _full_ assembly; which means every god, all pertinent experts and advisors from _The Colloquium of Souls_. This matter never should have been allowed to be settled with a mere quorum." _Oh no! No. No. No. No! Oh Myself_ _No_ _!_ "Perhaps it will teach you to  think first, then act." _How am I supposed to fit a full assembly in the busy schedules of over a billion gods?_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

42 years later…

Yama stared blankly at the paper in his cramped, spasmodic hands with disbelief. _I did it? I did it! Its 2463 years 7 months 15 days and 5 hours in the future but I did it! We're scheduled!_ His head falls to his desk, his chipped horns adding more dents to the battered surface. And if there are tears of relief splattering the wood underneath his clumpy half-pulled out hair, none of his subordinates scattered across the office in various states of exhaustion minded. _Oh thank the merciful heavens… I never want to see another appointment book again…_

A somehow still pristine ogre taps on the office door before letting himself in, absently checking an appointment book. "Lord Yama? Your 4 o'clock is here to see you." _Damn you Gorge… I'm blaming everything on you when I reincarnate again…_ Yama whimpers in pain before exhaustion finally drags him into unconsciousness without resistance. "Lord Yama? Your appointment?"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

2463 years 7 months 15 days and 5 hours later…

 _The Amphitheatre_ was full. It had been a long, long time since it met thusly, even in time measured by the kami. Even the ring shaped benches along the walls of the orchestra set aside for technical experts were full. _He had made sure that anyone who could_ _possibly_ _have some input into the matter was in attendance._ Several groups of security guards were conferring with a panel of gods. It would be a mixed assignment today, with all of the pantheons in attendance it wouldn't do to snub anyone by accident, _wars had been started for less, and it was always the mortals who paid_. His eyes were drawn to the small grouping of souls near the proscenium. It was the miko Kagome, Inuyasha and their entourage from _The Colloquium of Souls_.

At the end of their lifetime Kagome and Inuyasha had chosen to remain together, preserving their bond. No matter what was offered, neither would submit themselves to _The Wheel of Reincarnation._ _It was perfectly understandable; as long as they had one another they had no need for Nirvana._ Every soul who had ever held the jewel wanted to be a part of her entourage. While some had gone through several reincarnations since then, thinning out their numbers and dimming their memories, those that remembered were grateful for her efforts.

Even from his position in the center of the orchestra it was easy to see that Kagome's eyes darkened a little more each time her gaze was drawn to the Shikon. In response her soul mate moved a little bit closer and the souls laid their hands on her gently; all of them were attempting to console her no doubt. _It had been a difficult task going through all of the authorization paperwork, and collecting all of the souls from where they were resting in wait for the resumption of life; but his ferry girls had been up to the task._ _Well… every soul but one, not that anyone really cared what_ _ **that**_ _damned soul had to say._


	7. Of Kittens and Tigers

Chapter 6: Of Kittens and Tigers

A goddess who had been speaking to the security guards turns and walks up the stairs of the orchestra onto the proscenium; _given her garb it was easy to tell she was Greek_. Yama hides a wince, _if the Greeks had won the right to sit as Speaker of this assembly he was in for a rough time_. _The Greeks were not known for fair or wise judgments, often punishing the victim instead of the offender._ The security guards close all of the doors to _The Amphitheatre_ and take up positions around the room. The goddess clears her throat and speaks sweetly in the silence that follows, "The Greeks Speak for this assembly and they call it to order. Be still, Dikē enters." A second and then a third Greek goddess appear on the proscenium and go to the small dais set up in the center.

Dikē looks out at the assembly, her robes elegant, "I appoint my mother Themis, and my associate Astraea to sit as my advisors. As we are all either here or on our way, let us begin." Dikē was the Greek goddess of justice and moral order and fair judgment, with Themis, the titan of divine law, and Astraea goddess of Innocence and purity at her side she was well qualified to sit as Speaker. Dikē sits on the dais, pouring herself some wine before she smiles serenely, "So Yama, how are you?" Yama bows _perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all..._ "I am well Speaker, my vassals and domain as well. We have all sufficiently recovered from scheduling this assembly and reviewed all of our documentation... And yourself Lady Dikē? Dikē's face softens. "I have taken a consort so I'm pleased for the moment. Please, refresh my memory as I can't seem to recall, do you have a consort?"

The doors on the second tier of the auditorium open with a soft click before Yama can speak, and Hua Tuo, the Chinese god of surgery steps forward. He nods slightly to Dikē before speaking in a reserved tone. "I am late, this Shén apologizes, but the patient had to be attended to." Dikē waves her hand in dismissal, "Punctuality isn't half as important as trust, its fine." Hua Tuo frowns, "How far along have we gotten in the agenda? I ask so that I may quickly review to the appropriate spot without causing difficulties."

Dikē tilts her head to the side, "I don't really have one, we just have to come to a consensus once everyone gets their opinion out." Hua Tuo's frown deepens before he nods and moves to his seat. _That was the Greeks for you, but it appears the friendly period is over._ Dikē sighs taking another sip of her wine, "Let us begin then, who wants to go first?" Chaos descended.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dikē's voice was strained, and her wineglass long emptied, "Enough. We will end for lunch and resume with the problematic missing entry in the Register of Souls at 5:00 PM. Dismissed" Yama sinks shakily into his seat; _this was grueling. How many times would he be forced to answer the same inane questions in a different way?_ "Koenma Sir?" _How many of them could have been answered with "It's in the data files, read them first." They were Kami for the starry heaven's sakes; they should all be able to read by now!_ "Oh, sorry.  Yama Sir?"

Yama looks up from his bench to see his favorite ferry girl, "Hello Botan-chan." She beams happily at him before shyly holding out a box wrapped in a napkin. _She had made him a bento._ Yama smiles gently at her, keeping in mind that as Yama he had a fearsome face and that wasn't really something you wanted smiling at you. But Botan was Botan and she didn't seem to mind, and after a while he managed to convince her to sit and eat with him. Their conversation was pleasant and as always Yama found the stress slowly leaching out of his body.

Eventually Botan portaled the remains of their lunch away and seeing an opportunity Yama chose to escort her around _The Amphitheatre._ In the end they wound up on the floor of the orchestra, _the perspective from down here was staggering, and to think that they had managed to fill every one of those seats._ Botan's eyes are drawn to the Shikon and Yama walks with her towards it, nodding at the security guards guarding it. Her voice is quiet, even in the nearly empty amphitheatre, "It's amazing to think that such a tiny jewel would be powerful enough to resist the will of the Kami."

Yama opens his mouth to agree only to be cut off by harsh and guttural laughter. _Ick_. It was the Wishmaster _, part of an unfortunate but sadly necessary part of the soul cycle_. It took an absurd amount of energy to power _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ , and it was the Wishmaster's job to acquire it. Being jointly assigned to _The Paradox_ and _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ the Wishmaster harvested souls in exchange for wishes. No matter what the poor mortals he dealt with thought; none of them had ever managed to banish him before his quota was met.

 _Of course, the souls harvested were not permanently damaged, though they were stripped bare of all character growth they had achieved, leaving them with only their karmic dept._ With the powers of _The Paradox,_ they never even noticed it had happened. _It could have been a beautiful system, except for one thing_. Harming souls generated karmic dept, and no decent god would have any part of it. The end result? _The Wishmaster was an ass-hat and he embraced it; granting wishes in the most horrible way he could think of while pawning off the karmic dept to lesser incarnations of himself._ The karmic dept generated by his behavior was nothing in relation to what he got for rending souls. They had considered offering the Shikon to him during the second assembly, but not even the Wishmaster wanted the dept garnered from the **destruction** of a soul.

The Wishmaster rose from his seat, apparently he had nothing better to do during the break than sit in _The Amphitheatre_ and polish his jewels. Jumping over the table and floating from the auditorium down to the orchestra with his clammy skin and dreadlock like horns glinting under the lights the Wishmaster spoke in tones of saccharine mockery. "You're _all_ idiots."

He shakes his head in a clearly fake display of dismay. "Tell me. What am I to the mortals? I'm an omnipotent evil genie in a shiny red jewel that goes around granting wishes… for a price. And what is the Shikon? It is a pathetic attempt at a takeover of my domain and I will tolerate no competition." He is smug as he leans forward conspiringly, "It's so pathetic it doesn't even own the soul it's using to think. And I reiterate; you're all idiots for not noticing."

He taps the case the Shikon is in with a dark pointed talon and the jewel sends out red sparks in retaliation. _It was oddly cute, like a fluffed up kitten hissing at a tiger._ "The soul fragments inside are still assigned to their originating souls. That's why the Shikon isn't **in** the Register of Souls." He grins evilly at the jewel. "You've also been naughty haven't you? Taking payment for wishes before granting them puts a lien on the wish giver's soul; but, you already knew that didn't you?"

"Does the lien on the soul fragments in the Shikon have any bearing on the ability of this assembly to see it ended?" Everyone turns to the doors on the orchestra floor, Dikē and her advisors had returned from lunch, and looking around the auditorium Yama realized that _all_ the Kami had reentered without his noticing. _How in the name of The Spirit World had he missed_ _billions_ _of people entering the room?_ The assembly continued in altering rhythms of chaos, accusations and questioning. _The mortals were wrong, the gods weren't crazy;_ _they were blind_ _._


	8. Soul Bankruptcy

Chapter 7: Soul Bankruptcy

Dikē looks out at the auditorium before moving the assembly along. "As the assembly is now aware; the first thing that must be done in order to unmake the Shikon is satisfy the lien on the souls inside. We must determine the difficulty of this task. How many outstanding wishes remain on the jewel, and what are they?"

Seshat the Egyptian goddess of scribes, surveyors, and accountants rises from her seat with a data pad in her hands, "We are in luck; there are only three outstanding wishes. The first is the most complicated as it applies to both Kagome's and Onigumo's soul fragments and was partially fulfilled before it was wished away. It may very well be our oasis in a sea of sand."

Her kohl rimmed eyes crinkled as she smiled, "The wish was issued by the jewel itself with Naraku as a medium. Had it completed it would have seen Naraku and Kagome replace Magatsuhi and Midoriko as the primary battling spirits within the jewel. It would have ended their claim on the primary soul fragments that serve as the base of the Shikon's self awareness effectively giving the Shikon its own soul."

Scrolling down on the data pad and pushing her seven pointed emblem back on top of her head Seshat continues, "The second lien is for Kagome's soul fragment, and was issued by Kikyō; the wish was to make Inuyasha into a full human and live together as ordinary people. The last, is for Onigumo's soul fragment, and was issued by Naraku and Onigumo combined; the wish was to have Kikyō's heart."

There was an explosion of noise from the souls in the orchestra. _Though to be fair 90% of it came from Inuyasha._ "Sit down and stop barking dog, there are plenty of types of love in the world, I'm sure we can find one that does not compromise your soul mating. The three wishes are easy enough to force. The hardest part will come after." Spoke Freja. She was a Norse goddess with a wide spread domain including but certainly not limited to: love, sorcery, war, and death.

The Buddha, serenity incarnate as always, agrees sagely, "Peace cannot be fought for, only shared. The two forces inside the jewel must be in harmony to attain their shared freedom. Both souls must purify themselves." _There was_ _no way_ _in all the heavens and all the hells they were_ _ever_ _going to get that to happen. Onigumo's karmic dept was huge; even if they considered his banishment to the void completed, he still had enough karmic dept to merit nearly 750,000 years in Hell._

Freja asks curiously, "Do you have nothing to say in this matter?" Yama answers, "It will be very difficult. There are no virtues in his soul." Freja glares at him, "Not you Yama, you have spoken for the soul enough over the course of this assembly. This is a deeply personal matter and I would hear from the soul directly."

Yama fidgets, _mou…_ _why_ _it had to come to this…_ "You can't. He isn't here." Ame-no-Koyane hisses in outrage as he stands from his position in the auditorium, "You were ordered to have all pertinent witnesses and experts here for this meeting. Did you feel that he had nothing to contribute? Or were you too lazy go through the procedure to release him from Hell's custody?" Yama holds up his hands in entreaty, "He isn't in Hell."

Inuyasha, who had been getting more and more difficult to deal with as the assembly went on, spoke from his position next to Kagome in the orchestra. "If Naraku ain't in Hell then where the hell is he?" Yama rubs the base of his horns absently; "Ah, well you see, that is a bit complicated." Looking around at the unimpressed faces of the other Kami he continues.

"As you are all aware Naraku had a tendency to expel and re-absorb the human heart he chained his human soul to. As the Shikon became darker, and more of it fell into his possession he was able to find newer and more disturbing ways of doing so. His last and most successful attempt was the most disturbing. He managed to separate his physical heart from his spiritual one."

"Fortunately, as Onigumo's soul was discarded in a holy place he was quickly apprehended by the vassals of a local Kami and brought to _The Spirit World._ By the time Naraku wished for he and Kagome-san to replace Midoriko-sama and Magatsuhi, Onigumo was already in soul shackles in _The Halls of Judgment_ awaiting the re-fusion of his soul, and the full accounting of his crimes."

Yama looks around the room gravely, "Onigumo's 743,000 year sentence to hell was to pay off the karmic dept he generated in the first cycle. After the second cycle there wasn't any comparison between the two depts. He was guilty of some of our greatest crimes: two counts of attempted destruction of a soul-mated pair, several counts of corruption of a heavenly servant, ten counts of reincarnation outside of _The Wheel of Time_ and most disturbingly 4,562,846 counts of **soul destruction**."

You could hear a pin drop in the silence that followed, billions of gods now just as grim as he. Yama continued, "The experts the previous assemblies had consulted on _The Matter at Hand_ had completely misunderstood the mechanisms by which Naraku and ultimately the Shikon were generating power. Onigumo, as Naraku, was practicing soul-mater-energy conversions, breaking down the beings he absorbed, keeping only the parts he wanted from them and converting the rest into energy. We are unable to determine the amount of energy inside the Shikon, but we have a much better understanding of why we have not been able to unmake it."

Yama sighs, closing his eyes as he remembered the first time he got a look directly at Onigumo's full soul on the immortal plane after the second cycle. _It had been like looking at a black hole, so great was the dept he was under._ "Understandably, the karmic dept Onigumo had generated in the second cycle was so vast that had we simply increased the length of his sentence in _The Hell_ proportionally; he would have been in _The Hell_ for longer than thirty times the projected life span of the dimension."

"As I was certain that Onigumo would have found several ways out of _The Hell_ given such a long time to do so, I instead had his soul declared bankrupt. In appeasement, he would be banished into the void until times end, and held there until the resumption of time in the new dimension, after which he was to serve out his original 743,000 year sentence in hell before entering _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ free of dept."

Dikē sighs. "We need him here for this Yama. Ame-no-Koyane and the previous assembly gave you enough authority to have the soul recalled from the void. Go and fetch him now. We will dine in the meantime." Yama bows to the goddesses on the dais, then the rest of the auditorium before hurrying out.

Dikē takes a sip of her wine as vassals bring their gods sustenance, contemplating Yama's actions. The assembly was quiet as it ate _. It appeared that no one had anything to say after that, and why would they? It was a difficult decision to declare a soul bankrupt. The purpose of life on the mortal plane was to give souls the means to grow, that growth came with karma. Ultimately karma was little more than currency of the soul, sometimes it was repaid directly to the souls it was garnered from, and other times it was settled by the gods._

 _If a soul was declared bankrupt that meant that a god had judged the soul incapable of repaying its depts. It couldn't just be forgiven, that could cause the collapse of the whole system, so it was turned over to the multi-domain Hindu god Shiva. He primarily oversaw the affair as his ship The Mount Kailash, had the largest fate-matrix drive in the fleet of gods_. It was only in the absolute worst scenarios that the soul was sent to the void. The void was the only place where your first life has just as much strength as your last one so that you may be your own judge jury and executioner. Dikē is shaken from her thoughts as a question is asked.

"I don't get it." It was a new goddess that spoke; Dikē could not remember which one she was, _though given that the fleet of gods was always increasing, and it took so_ _ **little**_ _for some pantheons make someone a god, so that was not much of a surprise._ _Given that she was seated in a lesser position to the war gods, she must have been a minor goddess with a violent domain that mostly belonged to someone else. It didn't really matter; if Dikē could not remember her, she couldn't have been that important._

Leaning on the desk before her with one hand propped up under her chin, the goddess watched the assembly eat. Her face half hidden behind a cup of purple lotus tea and her nearly endless black hair she asked, " _If_ Naraku had no problems destroying souls, then why did he not do so with the Shikon? This situation would have resolved itself long before it got so far out of control."

 _It was the question that sparked the beginning of the end._ The goddess sets down her tea and meets Kagome's eyes from across _The Amphitheatre._ Kagome smiles back uncertainly at the hazily familiar goddess staring at her with gentle blood red eyes. The goddess's return smile is soft and mysterious behind a paper fan with a pink and black Yin-Yang upon it, _or the end of the beginning ne imouto?_

Ereshkigal, an ancient Babylonian goddess of the dead responds, "Instinctual self preservation; as Kagome and Naraku are the reincarnations of Midoriko and Magatsuhi, the soul fragments in the Shikon are now assigned to them. Had Naraku absorbed instead of adsorbed the jewel he would have essentially destroyed part of his own soul. Destroying even the smallest aspect of one's own soul causes a cascading doppelganger effect. It turns every fragment of one's soul against the other, and eventually leads to the destruction of all aspects of the soul."


	9. Like Pac-man

Chapter 8: Like Pac-man

Yama rubs his temples in frustration. He was aboard _The Colloquium of Souls_ at the moment, standing in the reception area trying to fill out the paperwork necessary to see Onigumo's soul recalled from the void. _The Colloquium of Souls_ was a relatively new ship in the grand scheme of things, it served as a docking station for every afterlife the mortals had dreamt of. There were thousands of gods and goddesses of the dead and every one of them had their own version of an afterlife, naturally all of them were actually space ships of various shapes and sizes.

Under his kingship, _The Spirit World_ was one of them. But not all afterlives had gods to oversee them and not all afterlives prohibited their souls from traveling, some even encouraged it. To make matters simpler _The Colloquium of Souls_ was built to handle the traffic of souls between each afterlife and _The Wheel of Reincarnation._

Unfortunately, under the management of Kui-Xing it had a bureaucracy to match. From the fringes of his hair Yama glares at the man sitting at the reception desk, _Kui-Xing was a Chinese god who had been given the office of literary affairs upon his deification; in short he was the god of memos, post-it notes and paperwork. He was practically Yama's arch-nemesis._

Finishing the last line in the sheaf of papers Yama places the clipboard on the reception desk. Neither god says anything while Kui-Xing goes through it. Finally nodding the sitting god gestures to one of the clay soldier-golems placed under his command. "The brown soldier will lead you to the recall chamber. I trust your people can handle the claw machine?" Yama nods before turning and walking away. Kui-Xing grins at the leaving Kami's back, his appearance shifting into that of a red eyed goddess. She whistles as she turns and leaves.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Sir? We have a bit of a problem..." Yama looks up from the data pad in his hand at the ogre in the doorway to his office. _That was funny; it looked like the same one that had delivered bad news before._ The officer looks down, "Ah, well the ogres in charge of operating the claw machine ran out of coins…" Yama face palms, _the indignities he was subjected to._ "Get another 100 from the treasury and leave me in peace." The officer salutes, nearly stabbing himself in the hand with his horns before scurrying away. _Ah well. At least it couldn't get any worse right?_

Yama gently lets his head hit his desk with a light thunk. … _he was going to pay for that thought somehow he just knew it…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Sir? We have a bit of a problem..." Yama looks up from his data pad in his hand at the ogre in the doorway to his office. _Oh dear, it was the same ogre again, he would have to check later and make sure that ogre wasn't being hazed._ "What is it now; they can't be having that much difficulty with the claw machine." The officer gulps, "You know how no one is supposed to be able to escape the void?" Yama stands up quickly, slamming his hands down on his desk. "He didn't! Please tell me he _did not_ escape the void!" _Oh dear myself why?!_

The officer nods shakily, "That's correct sir, he didn't, but he got _very_ close to doing so. The techno-ogres are here with an explanation." Yama sighs putting his head in his hands. _This was going to be blamed on him. He knew it._ "Send them in." There is a quiet scuffling as the techno-ogres enter the room to stand before his desk. With a deep sigh Yama looks up. "Well, go on." An ogre in a lab coat takes a step forward, "Now, the first thing you have to remember about the void is that it isn't _actually_ a void. The moment we put something in it, it automatically becomes something else. So really it's more like a whole lot of space with funny physics and a microbe in it. And since everyone's been using the void as a garbage dump for things they don't want to deal with, it has gotten really full for something we call a void."

The ogre hands Yama a data pad, "About 4 dimensional ages ago we resorted wrapping everything up in its own little void bubble to keep everything separate from everything else. So then the void was more like pile of bubbles with something in the middle of each one; amorphous but with millions of tiny partitions. The second thing you have to understand is that normally a soul thrown into the void collapses in on itself; mostly due to sensory deprivation… _we think._ And well, the soul you asked us to recall appears to have done the opposite instead." Yama looks up sharply, "What!"

The ogre nods its head repeatedly, "Yes, yes we thought that was weird too, it got worse though, since because he expanded instead, the void bubble he was in wound up too small, allowing him to shatter the partition between himself and his neighbors, whom he promptly err… ate… like Pac-man."

Yama drops his head to his desk, his horns adding more chips to the worn surface, "Do we have any idea why this happened?" The ogre looks over at one of the others, "Now I'm not too sure about this but, Steven thinks that there are two contributing factors. The first factor is that the soul Onigumo spent two lifetimes as an absorption yōkai, which may have changed the identity modifier in his soul from human to yōkai. The second factor is the size of his soul. Originally it was within the normal range for souls his age and purity class, but whatever he was doing that last lifetime caused his soul to immensely grow in size. So he had both the knowledge and the means to go about absorbing bodies and destroying souls to make energy and matter; and lots of practice doing so, which let him continue expanding outward."

"Everything he encountered is part of him now, luckily for us, eventually the size of the bubble he was in was too great for him to get any leverage, or we _really_ _would_ have had a void again. After a while of thrashing about Onigumo eventually stilled… _then_ he collapsed in on himself... Only instead of collapsing into a fist sized soul he collapsed into a slimy pile of goo, viscera, and bones with a skin blanket and randomly placed appendages of various shapes and sizes… Some of the ogres who operated the claw machine are still in the bathroom puking…I'm not sure when they are going to come back out."

Yama cried internally; _he was going to be in so much trouble for this!_ "What did he absorb? I don't see that in this data file." The ogres look at each other in question again and Yama feels a migraine coming on. The lead ogre speaks again, "Unfortunately there is no way of measuring distance or position in the void so we have no idea where the bubbles are exactly or consequently what he absorbed… I know _The Assembly_ wants him as a witness but are you sure you want us to pull him out? Some of the stuff we threw in there was really, _really,_ scary."

Yama shakes his head, "There is no way in any space or time anyone with half a brain would allow that, send a message to _The Soul Society_ and ask their soul king to lend us The Kōtotsu. Make sure Onigumo soul doesn't come out of the void with anything else."


	10. Her

Chapter 9 **:** Her

 _There was nothing to touch in the void, no sensation but his own hands upon his twisted flesh._

 _There was nothing to hear or see in the void, no eyes to meet or voices to scream but his own._

 _There was nothing to taste in the void, nothing but the bitter resentment he had been choking on for so long._

 _There was nothing to smell in the void, nothing but the stench of his fear as it finally faded into exhaustion._

 _There was no time in the void, but always enough time to think, to dream, to remember, but never_ _ever_ _rest; the perfect misery of an eternal moment without anyone to share it with._

 _There was no hunger in the void, at least nothing that was not already so deep inside him it was never going to come out. And it had not;_ _she_ _was there still, behind his eyes haunting his memories, the only part of_ _her_ _that would ever truly be his._

He closes his eyes against the all consuming blackness of the void, folding them into his abominable flesh as he pushes the memories away. They come back quickly; waiting and remembering was all he that had left. _Clearly time out_ _was_ _an effective, legitimate punishment for his crimes. He had doubted it in the beginning, when the toddler of a Spirit King had made his judgment. Irredeemable they called him, absent of virtues, loveless. Loveless?_ _Fools_ _. He loved_ _her_ _, no matter how they claimed it only greed, lust and obsession._ He does not remember what he said then, though he imagines it was appropriately sharp.

He also remembers raging as they cast him into the void; the white-hot fury coats his memories of tearing apart the film like barrier that had held him separate from everything else. He remembers the strain on his form as he bent and twisted and tore _and adsorbed._ _But eventually the space grew so big that he could not reach the edges and… not even he could rage forever without someone to vent it upon_.

With the endless solitude of the never/forever time of the void, the rage had fallen easily into bargaining. _He was so very_ _ **good**_ _at twisting words to suit himself. But the Kami were not listening and so he turned to the Shikon though he knew it was not there to hear him. It was a secret he had carried deeply in his heart, while_ _she_ _could_ _see_ _the jewel; he could_ _feel_ _it, an indistinct vibration like an insect thrashing pointlessly in his web. Though… it never did give him what he really wanted. Eventually he ran out of words and pleas and offerings, allowing a deep sorrow to settle in his heart. It was nothing new._

 _He had carried the burden of sorrow through all of his lifetimes. Here in the void he remembered every life he had lived clearly; the picture was bleak and only ever got worse when he became a yōkai. He was always forsaken, a thief and a deceiver, a killer and oath breaker, a monster and a destroyer; no love and less kindness except from_ _her_ _, only_ _her_ _, only_ _ **ever**_ _her_ _. No wonder that at the edge of forever he still carried_ _her_ _in his heart._

 _She_ _was such a pleasant dream to his mind plagued by nightmares and memories of cruel words and violent hands. He would not give_ _her_ _up; he would_ _ **never**_ _give_ _her_ _up. Not to the fools who followed in_ _her_ _wake as_ _her_ _samurai armor shone like a beacon in the night, or to that damned dog who hounded_ _her_ _thereafter._

 _And if he could not have_ _her_ _love then he would have_ _her_ _hate. It was all too easy to become her nemesis and he did it every time she denied him, no matter the havoc_ _she_ _wrought on his heart when her kindness faded into cruel words and burning sacred magic. Even at_ _her_ _cruelest,_ _she_ _was still the kindest to ever lay a hand upon his battered soul._

 _But what was he supposed to do? He had tried everything he knew to win_ _her_ _, and it was never enough. In every lifetime they had met it had never worked, but he_ _ **yearned**_ _for_ _her_ _still. It was an embarrassing weakness, but no matter how many times_ _she_ _killed him he would always return, because it was only ever_ _her_ _that gave him any form of_ _ **peace**_ _._

 _And he would be at peace once more; their paths had crossed in_ _ **three**_ _lifetimes so far; it was only a matter of time before he saw_ _her_ _again. But... forever was such a long time to miss someone who never missed you back. The sorrow eventually faded into a brief moment of acceptance and then, only exhaustion remained as he floated into eternity; so tired. He was so tired of everything; of everything but_ _her_ _._


	11. They Should Have Known Better

Chapter 10: They Should Have Known Better

 _It was chilling._ Yama was a judge of souls, an expert in measuring them. They had repeatedly assaulted Onigumo with the Kōtotsu, removing everything that was foreign to him. They couldn't get rid of anything he had fully laid claim to, but at least they didn't have to worry about a cursed object worse than the Shikon or some immortal eldritch abomination bursting out of his disgusting body once he was free of the void. Yama shivers _. It was so very chilling, until just a moment ago he would have sworn that the experience had broken Onigumo. That the exhaustion had leached the fight out of him, dulled his mind, and quelled the violence in his heart._

 _A single sentence, all it took was a single sentence and he was_ _back;_ _as if he had never left at all. One sentence and instead of the goopy ball of intestines and bone that the claw had lifted out of the void, he was in the shape of a man again; razor sharp wit glinting in his red eyes, ruthlessness in his posture and cruelty in the smirk on his face… just one sentence._

"To end the Shikon we will see your wish upon it granted."

Yama shakes the feeling off, turning to his security people, "Everyone, keep your spirit-cannons ready, Captain Shunjun, see this soul bound in chains and escorted to _The Assembly._ We have kept them waiting long enough."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

He was docile as they chained him. _There was no point in resisting, not now when they were going to give him what he had been dreaming of for so long._ He moved slowly, _it was so strange to be subjected to gravity once more. It was almost embarrassing; the ache in his chest had grown to a sharp cutting pain before he remembered he would need to breathe now. It burned. There was so much to smell now, and the lights were so very bright._ Slowly, step by step he began to feel more like himself. _Until, quite out of nowhere, he finally, finally felt real._ Because he was there and _… it was_ _her_ _._

A room full of Kami and the ache in his body that still remained after the strange glowing beast had ripped so many of his voices away; went ignored as he gazed upon the miko. _He called upon the power he had nearly forgotten he had, limp and weak but still enough to see him twisting and slipping free of the pathetic guards circling him._ "Hey! Get back here!" _He came to a stop before_ _her,_ _only a few feet separated them now_. "What do you think you're doing? Go to your seat or we'll fire!"

His gaze was even, catching the slight movement she made as she flinched away from him, only to force herself steady. "Are you even listening?!" _A forever in the void hadn't dulled his skill, he could see it in_ _her_ _eyes and the way_ _she_ _held herself before him,_ _she_ _feared him still,_ _she_ _hated him still._ _Oh…_ _ **Oh..**_ _._ Contentment settled deeply in his heart, soothing a festering ache he had long grown used to... _She_ _ **remembered**_ _him. He had left enough of a mark upon_ _her_ _that here at the end of forever_ _she_ _remembered him._

The guards of _The Spirit World_ point their spirit-cannons at him, glowing blue with power. He closed his eyes for a moment, savoring his next breath as he drew her scent in for the first time in so very long. _There were other things bombarding his senses, but they were easily shunted aside, none of it mattered but_ _her_ _. Kami even the scent of her was peace incarnate._

His eyes fluttered open as the growls reached his ears. _It was the insipid dog of course; his presence was a disappointing unpleasantness but not an unexpected one, without the Tessaiga he was useless and ignored easily enough. He loved_ _her_ _still, but his heart ached terribly as_ _she_ _leaned into the dog, seeking comfort. Once, there would have been cruel cutting words on the mongrel's behavior, but he found he had nothing worth saying. He was too tired to fight, and no words would change who_ _she_ _chose, they never had. His gaze was steady into the miko's eyes she slowly began to relax in the face of his stillness, her eyes and heart closed to block him out._ "Fire!"

 _They should have known better, by this point he had been a yōkai for longer than he had ever been a human, and the red demonic barrier had always been a favorite of his._ Even with the soul shackles on it flashed into existence around him easily enough. _But he was tired, so very tired._ And so the barrier shattered after reflecting the spirit-cannon blasts back to their owners who were subsequently knocked out. _He could see_ _her_ _hand twitch, and he knew, if he took a single step forward_ _she_ _would attack him with her spiritual powers; and so he remained still, content to bask in her presence, if only for a little while longer._ _She_ _was still so beautiful…_

It was in the stillness that followed that the Shikon acted. Sensing its favorite host it flashed brilliantly, shattering its case and blinding everyone with eyes before shooting towards Onigumo and slamming into his chest.


	12. Head on Backwards

Chapter 11: Head on Backwards

The Shikon bounced off his chest; clattering to the floor like the marble it so resembled. It slowly rolled and came to a stop at his feet; his eyes, which had yet to deviate from the miko's form slowly turned downwards. The jewel sparkled chaotically, giving the impression that it was as dazed and confused as everyone else. Up in the auditorium a red eyed goddess chuckles quietly to herself behind her tea. _Poor Shikon-chan you shouldn't be so surprised at the rejection, not when you are aware of how little room there is in his heart for anything but_ _her._

With a slow blink, a sigh and an inky slither of motion he bent to pick up the Shikon, his ineffectual shackles clinking gently. The jewel turned pitch black at his touch and the room tensed as more and more security guards from across the pantheons poured into the orchestra with their various weapons. _The Shikon was in his grasp. The things he could do with its power! Any wish, and to see the jewel perish, the kami would be forced to grant that as well!_

The red eyed goddess smiles in exasperation, intent upon the souls below, slowly closing her fan she whispers, " _Remember_ ".

He frowns, catching himself staring at the Jewel, as a memory that had buried itself the moment he was removed from the void rises up. _A long time ago, during the first time he was Naraku, he had given in to a shameful display of nostalgia and regret at_ _her_ _grave. A passing monk had stopped to offer him comfort. And, weakened by the humanity forced upon him by the gods, he had lost all semblance of control. Word by word, horror upon tragedy upon wretched bloody dream, his story had come out._

In the end the monk had the following advice, not that he had heeded it at the time. "Love is a strange thing; it can make the strongest person weak, and the weakest person strong. Souls only meet repeatedly at the behest of the kami, the woman your chasing is either a blessing or a lesson." The monk had smiled then, and while the expression was warm, wrinkling his face kindly, he had been left feeling disoriented; as if some kami had reached out and altered the course of his fate. The monk's parting words had only strengthened the sensation, "If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done."

His eyes fall to the miko as he smoothly rises. The thoughts and plans that had sprung into his mind at the touch of the jewel dismissed. _They would not have gotten him anything. The gods were already going to force the jewel to grant his wish, he never really wanted anything else from it._ _She_ _would be his. There had been so many things he had planned to say to_ _her_ _when they met once more, conjured up over the never/forever he had spent in the void. But everything he had to say had been said before, and_ _her_ _heart was still closed to him, and so he said nothing. He was too tired to fight anymore, not for a woman who would offer him no solace he did not steal._

His eyes narrow slightly as he glances at the jewel once more, before rising to meet the miko's head-on. Slowly, his hand rose in offering to her, the jewel between his fingers. _Perhaps…perhaps this time it will reach her…_ Eyes wide with curiosity and surprise, shaking off the grasp of her soul mate and companions the miko strode forward. She came to a stop just outside of his reach, _always just out of reach_ and shakily held her hand out palm up in acceptance.

Kagome knew Naraku understood the value of the bonds between people; she had questioned him about it at their last meeting. _Perhaps after all the times they had met and parted with only suffering to show for it; he was willing to try for a new type bond with her? The gods were going to see it done anyways, and it would be up to them to make the best of it._

Moving slowly, as if sudden movements would startle her away, _still ignoring the wretched guards_ _and their equally useless masters,_ he set it in her hand gently. The jewel whirled into a perfect split of holy-pink and corrupted-black before his touch left it to caress the tips of her fingers as she pulled away. _She_ _was always the first to pull away, but soon_ _she_ _would not be able to._ The jewel, now solely in her grasp, shone a brilliant pink before it was hidden from view by her closing hand.

 _She_ _was looking at him with an expression he had never seen before, not for himself or another;_ occasionally glancing at the jewel in her hand as she tried to make sense of everything. In the background the dog was growling like thunder, cursing and struggling as he was held back by the security ogres of _The Spirit World_ , but the miko clearly had lots of practice ignoring it, _and he certainly did not care_. _It was working. Though he could not tell if he was disappointed or not._

 _He prided himself on his ability to understand the motives behind the actions of his enemies. Yet… some actions had always confused him, illogical and self destructive in their foolishness. Unfortunately, it was those actions he was relying upon now; they had worked for others in her circle, some who had also tried to kill her. He knew well the recklessness of imitating things he did not understand, yet here he was, attempting it anyways._

He moved backwards slowly before heading to the chain bound chair clearly meant for him _. He knew there were people cringing, but he was a shape shifter, it caused him no pain to walk with his head on backwards._ _She_ _was there, and he would not turn away. He wanted to see every expression on_ _her_ _face as the gods betrayed_ _her_ _, bartering_ _her_ _to_ _her_ _nemesis to ensure peace. Perhaps then_ _she_ _would see them as the arrogant, selfish, slave traders they were._

He slowed at a soft indrawn breath, and trembling words; "Magatsuhi? …Onigumo? …Naraku?" He froze, and his decrepit heart began to beat rapidly in his chest. _Her_ _voice was still so sweet, even if_ _she_ _didn't know what name to call him. Truly, a name was such a silly thing to use to identify a soul; after all, souls were more than the sum of a single lifetime. He understood that better than anyone._

He turned slowly to meet the miko's eyes, his hair swishing gently against the miasma constructed fabric he wore. _It was astounding how fast the hope could come when it had been a stranger to him for so long. It would not last,_ _ **it never did**_ _, but it always lasted the longest for_ _her_ _._ He breathed in slowly and at almost a whisper he spoke, his voice still the dark purr it had always been, "Miko."

"What _happened_ to you?" Kagome asked, her eyes were crystal blue, and it had been so very long since  her gaze was that kind, worried over the state of his health _._ _She_ _should have been more concerned with the state of his heart._ He closed his eyes to blot out the sight, lest every one of his thoughts come out. A deep breath, and then another, before he opened his eyes once more to gaze upon her. _He never did find the strength to protect himself from_ _her_.

"You did; Miko."

 _It was true, everything that he was, and everything that he was no longer was because of her._ And so he took a step back and performed a perfect saikeirei bow to the only being in the world he acknowledged above him.

 _Her_ , _only_ _her_ _, only_ _ **ever**_ _her_ _._


	13. Lost Faith

Chapter 12: Lost Faith

"So we are agreed then?" There are sounds of agreement from around _The Amphitheater_ in response to Dikē's question. Yama was furious. The souls had given their testimonies, only to be dismissed before for the final discussion. _This had more impact on them then it did on any of the kami._

He clenches his hands in frustration; _Yusuke; while certainly the most memorable, had been one of millions of souls who had completely rewritten themselves in the second cycle, and here they were at the verge of a third._ He had argued against the soul's exclusion, but kami were arrogant, assuming that their immunity to time made them better than the souls they tended to, so the souls were made to wait elsewhere while the kami made their decision.

Dikē looks down at the data pad in her hands, "I will summarize and conclude this assembly then. To see the end of the Shikon no Tama we must perform two vital steps. The first step is to remove the lien on the soul fragments within the Shikon, by forcing the three outstanding wishes to be granted. Secondly, we must end the fluctuations in the corrupt-sacred seal holding the soul fragments hostage; in short we must end the battle between the soul fragments inside."

"The Shikon cannot be resolved on the immortal plain. So it must be returned to the mortal plain, however the dimension which created the Shikon has already been recycled. As we are not willing to risk the Shikon affecting another dimension, we have chosen to utilize the systems already in place from the previous redux."

" _The Well of Time_ maintains records of all programmed fate-matrices. Her operators assure us that it is a simple matter to amend the first array to allow for the new variables we wish to include, and are currently adjusting the fate-matrix now. However the power requirement for reaching the objective time period is more than they receive from prayer. As we do not want her to deviate from her past choices, and as there will be no karmic dept for doing so, we have chosen to sacrifice the no-domain goddess Kagome."

"The issue of Onigumo's wish, and rather desperate need for some positive soul growth, will be resolved via reincarnation. _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ will process his soul and Shiragiku, the fastest ferry girl from _The Spirit World_ will take the soul and the Shikon no Tama through a time portal generated by _The Well of Time._ Her first task will be to ensure that the third reincarnation is placed as Kagome's identical twin sister. By the miracles of cell division and fetus development he will _quite literally_ have her heart. The remainder of his karmic dept will be paid with god-cursed health. Hopefully, between the guidance afforded by Kagome's family, and a second perspective of his actions in the feudal era, he will be positively cultivated."

Dikē takes a sip of her wine, and continues, scrolling down on the data pad. "While we briefly considered tossing the Shikon no Tama into the void and declaring it a non-issue, ultimately we decided that if it can survive the collapse of a dimension, and disappear from our awareness; it can most likely get itself out of the void."

"As the Shikon is an immortal object it may only exist once in any given time, so Shiragiku's second task will be to ensure that her version of the Shikon has supplanted the original, before placing the jewel in Kagome. Her last task will be to see the paperwork appropriately filed before returning to _The Well of Time_ for a temporal displacement briefing _._ "

"For the next wish, the clarifier: _living out the rest of their lives like normal people,_ is too subjective to offer any hindrance; the remainder of Kikyō's wish is slightly more problematic. It is only while the dimensional gate to the Tessaiga is within Inuyasha his soul matrix is stable enough to handle the stress of forcibly converting his identity modifiers from half-yōkai to human. However, without the sword he is ill-equipped to serve as the miko's champion."

"In truth, the Shikon-corrupted Kikyō would have killed her soul mate had the previous assembly not interfered by subtly adjusting the arrow so that it put him in an enchanted sleep instead. It would be just as easy to adjust seal so that it will purify his yōkai half upon its removal."

"It is the decision of this assembly that an alternate weapon be provided, which will _conveniently_ be stumbled upon while cleaning the shrine storage. While he is a flickering god, Kiyoshi remains the land god for that shrine. He will be provided enough power to arrange this, as it appears he will not have enough on his own."

"The souls will be permitted their adventures; the divine servant assigned to spy on the group, will notify us when the third reincarnation is ready for the final lien to be satisfied." Dikē looks up from her data pad. "While it is **strongly** against the policies and protocols _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ set in place to maintain control over the souls; we believe that the only way to reach our goal is to remove the third reincarnation's memory-vine seed while it is still alive on the mortal plain. After some clarification from the technicians in charge of soul processing, we are certain that we can modify the memory-vine seed so that only at the behest of a god or goddess it will wilt, causing the third reincarnation to remember her past incarnations."

"In the shock and rejection that follows, the Egyptian goddess Neith will weave the remainder of Kagome and the third reincarnation's soul fragments into the jewel. With such a massive addition of soul material unwilling to fight, the battle will end, the corrupted seal will break, and the entrapped souls freed."

Yama was ashamed. _With behavior like this it was no wonder that with every turn of a new dimensional age more and more humans lost faith in them._ Yama turns his head away as many of the kami rise to their feet and clap as Dikē concludes the assembly. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees many other discontented kami remaining in their seats. Across from him in full samurai dress with a jinbaori decorated with leaves, seated with the other land kami was Kiyoshi… _there was no kami this could be worse for…_

A splash of red catches Yama's eyes and he looks several sections away to see an unfamiliar red eyed goddess looking over her shoulder at him, her face partially blocked by a red spider lily perched in her hair. _In Hanakotoba_ _red spider lilies meant longing, lost memories, abandonment, and never meeting again. They were appropriate at a time like this._

The goddess nods to him in acknowledgement before tapping her desk with her fan, twice. Across the way, Kiyoshi nods, twice. _What were they doing?_ The goddess rises from her seat and jumps down to the orchestra. The spells that had been replaced after the Shikon's earlier rebellion offer her no resistance as she reaches through them, removing the Shikon and replacing it with a pink orb from within her kimono sleeves.

She looks up at Yama and winks a single blood red eye at him, face uncovered, before she vanishes from the room. Yama looks around wildly, staring for a moment at Kagome seated with the other souls, _how had no one noticed! She was..! She just..!_ His eyes seek out Kiyoshi who meets his gaze firmly before he shakes his head once: **no.**

 _But! But she was..!_ Yama brings his trembling hand up to cover the bottom of his face and looks around as the jovial kami begin to file out of the room.

It makes him pause. _Why… why were they so happy? This was a tragedy, a testament to how badly they had failed their charges…_ Meeting Kiyoshi's eyes once more, from where he is in line to file out of the room with the other kami. Yama holds his gaze, measuring. Closing his eyes, Yama eventually nods back in acceptance and resignation.

 _…_ _He would do nothing…_

 _Perhaps it was for the best. Let them realize they had reaped what they had sown._


	14. The Colloquium of Souls

Chapter 13: The Colloquium of Souls

The kami had sent the souls back to one of the many rooms in _The Colloquium of Souls_ once they were done with them; this one was setup like a tea room. _Their exclusion at this point wasn't much of a shock; most of them were just surprised that they had nearly made it to the end before it happened_. Kagome, like many of the others, had noticed that outside of the individual afterlives, the kami didn't seem to like keeping company with souls.

Even here on _The Colloquium of Souls,_ aside from a single administrator in the reception area (who had been a soul first), the kami were hardly ever seen aboard the ship, choosing instead to remain within their own domains when they docked. And if they wanted something from a soul, the soul was escorted to the kami by the kami's vassals.

With little supervision and plenty of room, the souls not bound to a single afterlife decided to honor the name of the ship they called home. If the kami had their assembly, then they would have a colloquium, and they would learn from each other in hopes of making their burden on the kami a little bit lighter.

They had chosen the largest room they could find, and over time, it had slowly filled with every form of seating arrangement you could think of. Kagome had enjoyed some of the greatest debates ever held from her favorite spot at a kotatsu; _how could it be anything but great with so many different perspectives to be offered?_

One topic that had held her interest had been the flickering kami. The flickering never happened to souls, but, no matter how benevolent the kami a soul asked, none would ever say just what that meant. It had been a simple question that evolved something a great deal more. The first suggestion thrown out, had been that the flickering kami were just weaker than the others; most of them only ever appeared in a single myth, or had just one shrine. _But that couldn't be true; they had seen exceptions to that on both ends of the power spectrum._

Unable to come up with anything other than supposition, the matter had been shunted aside and nearly forgotten until many sessions later when the question was posed. "If the purpose of the kami to souls is to provide them the means to grow, then what is the purpose of souls to the kami?"

It took a slightly questionable test, a splash of bribery, and a few bent rules, but they discovered two very important facts; it didn't matter how many souls in the immortal plain prayed to a flickering god, they remained unchanged. But with a little spying, a whispered request in a mortal's dream; just enough interference to get them to pray to a flickering god, they had an answer. The kami stopped flickering… for a while.

She had been there when they had finally stumbled upon the answer; the purpose of souls to the kami was _food._ Kagome shakes her head; _it wasn't as terrible as it had sounded when they first said it out loud._ It turned out that the kami drew their great power from the prayers of the living.

The reason why some weak kami flickered and others didn't, was because the kami who did not flicker had been souls _first_. The very nature of being a soul first meant that the kami always had at least one person who believed in them, even if that person was themselves.

So the flickering kami, without a soul of their own to fall back on, were fading out of existence; they were _dying_ kami… And they were dying from starvation.

It all came together after that, the reason kami cared about the size of a soul was because the larger the soul praying, the greater the boon offered the kami. But souls could grow large regardless of their purity… So what was the kami's incentive to enforce the tenants of good and evil? The answer had left the colloquium unmotivated and subdued for years, though it had gotten better once they learned to accept it.

Good and evil meant everything to souls, but _nothing_ to the kami. As far as they were concerned there was no such thing as good and evil; there were only people, and the sum of the things they were willing to do and endure in pursuit of their goals. The concepts were nothing more than a way of organizing the souls when they were on the immortal plain and an easy way to convince souls to go back to the mortal plain where they would suffer, grow and, consequently **pray**.

The kami made up for it of course, honoring the promises of their individual religions. There were thousands of positive afterlives docked to _The Colloquium of Souls_ for those souls that managed to reach that nearly impossible dream of _good_. Mahatma Gandhi frequently traveled from _The Nirvana_ to the colloquium to sit in on the conversations, offering advice when asked.

Kagome sighs, looking around the tea room to meet Onigumo's eyes; it was just so depressing to realize that fate wasn't some great plan set out by the kami during your stay on _The Wheel of Reincarnation_. That it wasn't like a script in a movie, with all of the words and actions planned out, even if the actors didn't always get their expressions right or their timing sucked.

Fate was actually more like scheduled testing in a great place of learning, where the tests were always essay-opinion questions and sometimes you were the student and sometimes you were the teacher. Even if you completely misunderstood the question or skipped it entirely to answer another, there was no right or wrong answer.

Because the tests aren't to see if we are right, they were to see who we are, **_and so we grew_** _._ Kagome smiles hesitantly at Onigumo, wondering just what test she was on right now; _because it was really, really creepy how he could just stare without blinking for hours on end…_ her eyes dart away as she takes a sip of the tea that was left for the souls.

It had probably been meant to relax them, but given the fact that many of them had killed each other over the Shikon no Tama, it utterly failed. _The only reason there was any semblance of peace at all was because she had been forced to resort to threats to get Inuyasha to stop yelling at Onigumo._ So there they remained, tense as the silence filled with stares and glares being tossed back and forth in silent war. It was no wonder then that the room was silent enough to hear the soft click of a lock opening. Everyone turned to the doors, only to look around in curiosity as a window opened just wide enough for a man to slide into the room.


	15. Collective Soul

Chapter 14: Collective Soul

The man who entered the room was a kami, he couldn't be anything else. He was hazy, flickering in and out of existence as they watched. _It was kind of sad. Even though he had clearly snuck into the room the kami looked so surprised to have all of their attention._ Kagome could tell the moment the kami began to use what little strength he had to increase his power of existence. The haziness faded from his form, even if the flickering remained. _He was!_

When it looked as if one of them was going to speak, he kami beckoned them to be silent and move closer. As the souls began to gather around him, Kagome, in an unusual display of rudeness, pushed through them to reach him first. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached out to touch his face, only to halt part way and whisper, "Chichi?"

Kiyoshi smiled gently at her, his eyes shiny with held back tears, and taking her outstretched hand in his own, completed its journey to his face, avoiding the decoration on his helmet. "Hello Kagome-chan, it's been so long since I last saw you." He pulls back with a sigh, glancing around at the others. "There isn't much time to explain."

"I'm a kami, that's the reason your mother never batted an eye in the face of your travels in time, or the grave injuries you suffered… daughter… the world is not gentle with the children of kami. There were so many times I wanted to speak with you, but…" He sighs. "There are too many reasons I could give, and not enough time, not when they mean to kill you."

Naturally, surrounded by her most fervent supporters, a hopping mad dog and one obsessed madman, she promptly found herself in a red barrier, encircled by souls willing to stand against kami in her defense and Inuyasha shouting, "Ain't no way that's gonna happen!" _Things would be so much better if she could just get people to let her fight her own battles…_

Kagome shakes her head in exasperation, "Why would they want to kill me, won't that give them karmic dept?" Kiyoshi looks sad, "Do you remember what Kaguya-chan said to you? That you were immune to time? She was sensing the seed of eternity inside you; every kami-born child has one. Normally it doesn't do much of anything, and is removed when the soul reincarnates, but at your death they built you a shrine and prayed."

"It may have been only been one generation, and they may have never specified what you stood for, but it was more than enough for your seed of eternity to sprout. Once it sprouts that's it, you are a kami. Kagome-chan… there is no penalty for killing kami, any domain they have will automatically find the next best fit, and you don't even have that for them to worry about."

Kagome gasps, holding her hand in front of her mouth; _it was the only thing keeping her from screaming_ , "Why!?" Kiyoshi looks at the souls, "They need something to power _The Well of Time._ Kami are not kind, they're _practical,_ often ruthlessly so. To get rid of the jewel they have to grant the outstanding wishes and force a cease fire on the fragments in the jewel."

"Their plan is to reincarnate Onigumo, ferry his soul and the Shikon back into the modern past, incarnate him as Kagome-chan's identical twin to give him her heart. Then, while ruthlessly bombarding the Nee-san with growth inducing stimuli, throw the two of them back into the feudal past. The kami have changed the spell on the arrow holding Inuyasha-kun to the tree so he is human after it is removed. The last wish, they are going to wait until they feel the moment is right, at which point they are going to make the Nee-san remember it's life as Naraku. The two sisters will then be folded into the Shikon by a kami and, with the two unwilling to fight, end the jewel."

He moves to stand before the soul known as Onigumo, remembering reviewing the data file put together by _The Halls of Judgment_ and _The Matter at Hand_ and how _very wrong_ his soul assessors had been. Clearly they had no idea the difference between absorption and adsorption... Hesitantly, looking up at him, Kiyoshi touches his future child's cheek gently. The soul raises one eyebrow but does nothing.

Kiyoshi speaks. "I am the land god who dwells in a sacred tree outside of the village of Edo and I have seen you. From the moment you laid burned upon me, mortal in my caves, to the moment you burned me with your demonic miasma, I have seen you clearly. I will be a _proud_ Kami, the day you become my first born. I believe in you, but I must ask. Will you forsake your collective soul to save her?"

Onigumo tensed, pulling back sharply. Kiyoshi dropped his hand to his side before continuing, understanding why, but stung by his rejection all the same. "The moment you became Naraku a second time and an adsorption yōkai for a third, the part of your soul that tells you what shape to appear in converted to match. Your soul is instanced now, with only the human and spider speakers of your collective soul appearing to outsiders."

" _The Well of Time_ cannot handle you traveling through it, so it trips a security protocol and closes the time portal; it's why you couldn't ever use it, no matter how many ways you tried to follow Kagome-chan through to the other side. _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ can be used to process all 4,562,846 of your individual souls into a single being, allowing you to pass through _The Well of Time._ "

"The fate-matrix drives of both ships are already programmed; a co-conspirator is working on it now, but there is only so much we will be able to change before they realize what we are doing." He pulls out a data pad and checks it, before he frowns and looks back at them. "We have a plan, but our duplicity will be discovered soon enough. If we are to do this then we must hurry." Everyone turns to Onigumo, who has eyes only for Kagome. She stares back, begging him with her eyes as she leans into Inuyasha's side. _Please…I don't want to die._ He succumbs. "So long as she lives, I will do it."


	16. So That's how he Reincarnated!

Chapter 15: So That's how he Reincarnated!

The red eyed goddess types madly at a console in _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ with the Shikon sitting innocently on top. She moves to another console to alter the code already written by the ship's intended fate-matrix adjustors. The technicians were currently laying unconscious in a corner of the room, a blue haired ferry girl keeping an eye on them; oar ready to add more lumps to their heads.

 _The conspirator's timing would have to be impeccable for the plan to go off without a hitch. The Wheel of Reincarnation_ softened souls, loosening up the connections between their soul fragments, allowing room for the soul to grow, like overturning soil in a field before planting. If the period between the soul processing and being placed in a living shell was too long, it would harden. Using the same analogy, the dirt would be too hard for the seeds to penetrate, allowing the wind to blow them away before they could take root. _Pity no one ever asked what they were planting._

There is a soft whoosh as the doors behind her open, but she doesn't bother to turn around, she already knew who it was. No matter the horrific mess _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ had left her soul the first time she passed through it, there were some things it just couldn't wipe out. _Her ability to sense_ _Kagome-chan_ _was one of them._

"Ka… Kagura!? Kagura-san is your co-conspirator?" The goddess quirks a brow, and types in the last line. "And… Done." Spinning to look at Kiyoshi and the souls behind him she smiles wryly, "Really Imouto? _Kagura-chan_ is the first thing that pops into your head when you see me?" _Aw… she was so cute when she was flabbergasted._

The goddess looks at Kiyoshi and waves to an open pod-like structure along the wall of the room. "The soul processor is ready. So if the collective soul will step inside, we can get him processed before Botan-chan takes everyone to _The Well of Time_." The ferry girl in the corner waives at everyone when her name is mentioned, only to turn and soundly whack a technician as he sits up. He collapses immediately after, with a second lump on his head.

Onigumo walks up to the goddess and halts, looking down at her in surprise and curiosity. She smiles up at him before holding a fan decorated with red poppies in front of her mouth, "Don't go giving away any secrets now. It's no fun if you don't keep them guessing." To everyone's surprise he bursts out laughing and shaking his head, he enters the pod. The goddess turns back to the control panel and hits a green button helpfully labeled start.

The pod closes, and the process starts. After a few minutes, Kagome asks, "um… If the size of the soul a person has makes it take longer to be processed, won't we get caught waiting?" The goddess smiles, "Here is a human saying to answer your question, good, fast, cheap. Good and fast is not cheap, cheap and fast is not good, good and cheap is not fast. In this particular case we are going with the first option, so the other kami may be a _liiiiitle bit_ angry with us later. But, we only have to wait about an hour. See this counter here?"

She points to a numerical display slowly counting down, "This is the number of souls currently in the pod. Once it reaches 1 we are done." Kagome nods, before biting her lip and looking up at the goddess, "um…are you my anesan?" After flipping two switches, the goddess answers, "I'm a lot of things, don't worry Kagome-chan, the answer will come with _time_." Finally fed up with being ignored, Inuyasha shouts, "What the hell's going on! Kagome, get away from her! You know we can't trust Kagura!"

Having enough of that, Kagome shouts "SIT BOY!" Unfortunately, the room is a mess from the earlier hostile takeover and, as the cursed rosary around his neck activates, he slams downward hitting a metal beam. The beam was wedged between the crumpled remains of the door to the room and an overturned chair. Physics happens, the beam tilts across its chair fulcrum, the door goes up, and then comes back down, forcing Inuyasha up and flinging him backwards into an open pod that closes and starts with a beep.

Everyone turns to the goddess, who sighs and moves to another panel, "I always did wonder how he got reincarnated. What an idiot, once those pods close they don't open until the processing is done. It's fine; I'll just adjust it so it finishes at the same time and doesn't affect your soul mating. Unless you want me to do some tinkering, maybe some obedience school?" Kagome shakes her head repeatedly no, and the goddess sighs, "It was just a thought." _Wouldn't she be in for a surprise, considering who he became when he reincarnated._

Kiyoshi snorts, then coughing to cover it up, tries to calm everyone down, "Now now, I'm assuming you want some more details? In just a little bit Botan-chan is going to collapse your soul into a ferry-able size, and place it in a castaway-bottle with the Shikon, Inuyasha-kun's and Onigumo-kun's reincarnations will each get their own. Then, the portal over there will take us all to just outside _The Well of Time._ I can get us in, they had to give me permission since they landed it in my domain, but no one ever bothered to revoke my access."

"Our problem is that while every kami has access to this ship, access to that one is restricted, and they will most certainly know something is going on once we open the first door." He smirk's, before lightly taunting the goddess, "Once we are in, _Kagura-san_ will adjust the parameters and open the time portal. Botan-chan will take over, and ferry the three castaway-bottles through."

"Things immune to time automatically merge with their past selves when they go back in time, so once Botan-chan opens the bottle, Kagome and the Shikon will merge with her past self. As for the others, tell me Kagome-chan, did you never wonder why you just couldn't turn Hōjō-kun down directly?"

He waves at Inuyasha's pod. "A soul mate always knows its mate, even if they don't match yet." Kagome is confused, "But that doesn't make any sense, that was a long time ago, and Hōjō-kun existed before I ever went back in time to meet Inuyasha."

From her position at the console the Shikon sits on, the goddess answers, "Time is a confusing thing, even to kami. It can best be described like this. When you are alive, you see a hime-sama in a kimono. There are hints here and there that she is wearing many layers, but you don't really know for sure, it could just be a modern confection that only _appears_ to have them."

"When you are a soul you can pass through her and count the layers, but the top layer is still the one that leaves the strongest impression. When you are kami, you _are_ the hime-sama, you know intimately what all of the layers are, _and_ how long it took to dress."

The goddess flips a few switches, noticing that only 100,000 souls remain in Onigumo's pod. She continues, "However, at one point the hime-sama wore only the first layer, and didn't know what the end result would be; though with all the layers setup, waiting for her, she had a good idea."

"Ah… but kimonos are delicate and sometimes a layer is improperly cared for, resulting in holes or stains, ruining it; even if that isn't the case, sometimes there are problems even getting the ensemble on and pinned in the correct order."

"So there is the hime-sama, who is both kami and nature simultaneously; existing but once, and the kimono as time, there is only one, but it is formed from many pieces. The whole image is amazing, no matter how many look at her; she will never, ever be described the same way twice."

Finishing with everything she would have to do here, she presses the last button. The pods each beep once signaling they were beginning their conclusion protocols. The goddess grabs the Shikon off of the console, and hands it to Botan, before removing her fan from her obi. The red eyed goddess turns to Kagome and leans in smiling mischievously behind her fan, "Using that analogy, the most interesting thing about kami, is that they are almost never the same amount of dressed."

Kagome giggles, before asking "And what about you?" The goddess smiles, gesturing to her furisode kimono decorated with purple aster and soft red azalea with her fan. "What, don't you think my kimono is pretty? I think my feelings are hurt."

The red eyed goddess sighs, as Botan opens the first of the castaway-bottles, dropping the Shikon inside. Botan smiles brightly as she taps the open mouth of the bottle to Kagome's stomach, with a poof of white shimmering dust, Kagome's soul collapses into a small white sphere inside the bottle.

The pods hiss open and Botan rushes across the room while closing Kagome's bottle. Tucking her oar underneath an arm, she reaches inside and grabs the two floating souls, before placing them in their bottles. Closing the bottles, she ties the three of them to her oar with a ribbon. Turning to everyone she claps her hands, "All right everyone, it's show time!"


	17. No Kill Like Overkill

Chapter 16: No Kill Like Overkill

 _He took it back, he_ _was_ _going to do something;_ _ **he was going to kill her**_ _._

 _How dare she get Botan mixed up in this!_ Yama, surrounded by his spirit defense force was running through the many corridors in _The Well of Time_ trying to get to the time portal manifestation room _._

The ship had one of the weirdest designs in the fleet of gods. It had been rather straight forward once; but as the living slowly came to a better understanding of the world around them, applying physics to what they had once taken on faith; the ship morphed. In the end, it was a web-like fractal maze with three stable platforms, one holding the control room, one holding the power room and the last holding the manifestation room.

They were heading for the largest one in the center, where the time portal would open; unfortunately, on top of being a maze, it was also moving in preparation for an unauthorized time portal.

It made for very good security, since trespassers invariably got lost.

 _Unfortunately, sometimes security did too._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

They had split from Botan hours ago; it was only now, that they finally reached the point where they would also have to go their separate ways. Standing at the intersection, Kiyoshi speaks, "It looks like this is where we part. I…" The red eyed goddess cuts him off, grabbing his arm. "Are you sure?"

Kiyoshi smiles serenely, covering her hands with one of his own. "I watched a daughter die for this once, as I stood there and did nothing. I understand now why the mortals say no parent should ever have to outlive their children. I can't do it again, even if there is a chance I won't exist afterwards. I know there isn't much of me left to believe in, but please believe I can do this."

The goddess releases him, and steps back. As she bows deeply to him, the entirety of her kimono fades black. She rises, and as she pulls two razor edged fans from her sleeves, the kimono fills with red camellia and white habenaria radiata. Tears glisten in her eyes as she meets his. She does not speak, fan closed in her fist with the tip pointed up; she only thumps her chest over her heart, _a salute_. Kiyoshi bows back and catching sight of the flowers, returns her salute with his katana. The hallway echoes with the clank of his armor before he turns and goes. "I will."

She watches him until he is out of sight, before wiping her eyes with her sleeves. _Whoever it was that said you should live for the moments you couldn't put into words probably didn't mean like this…_ When she looks up her eyes are steely, and with a sharp turn she begins to run. _Fast, faster, fastest, left, right, left, right, left; repeated over and over, until finally she was there._

In retrospect, at the speeds she was traveling, the door never really had a chance, and using it to take out the human-sized shikigami was a bit much. And shredding it with her fans while it lay stunned and pinned underneath the door was overkill. Luckily for their time constraints it had been starting the warm up procedures sanctioned earlier by _The Amphitheatre_.

 _Ah… but there really was no kill like overkill._

Moving to the massive control panel dedicated to the ships fate matrix drive she plugs a data pad in. She then opens a command prompt and begins downloading the linear regressions necessary to get Botan and the bottled souls though 17 millennia of time travel safely. There will be three stops; the first will be to 22 years before _The Well of Time_ opened to take Kagome into the feudal past. Botan will drop off the third reincarnation there. This time Kiyoshi and Kānēshon would not have to suffer the sorrow of a stillborn child. The second would be a few years later where Inuyasha would become Hōjō Aki, and the last would be two months later to merge then-Kagome with now-Kagome.

Nearby, a control panel begins flashing and beeping wildly. _It sounded like a car alarm,_ and she could see why, there were quite a few kami from a wide range of domains and pantheons, making their way through the fractal-web of _The Well of Time._ Turning back to her task, she picks up where the shikigami had been in the startup procedures. _The kami wouldn't be much of a problem, even if they made it to the control room before she was done._

For the moment, she and Kiyoshi were the further in time than any of the other kami. But unlike Kiyoshi who had walked the immortal plain with them for millennia, she was the creation of a time the kami had yet to experience, as such, she did not exist to them yet. Unless she _made_ them acknowledge her, smacking them in the face with her power of existence, she was invisible to them. _It made for great sneaking around, but terrible conversations._

A second control panel beeps to the far right, she looks at it curiously for a moment, until she spots the power meter. It was increasing. Her eyes close for a moment as she takes a deep breath. Kiyoshi was in the power room, willingly standing on a seal array that drew power of existence out of a kami. It was a desperate measure, only sanctioned when the power currently stored in the ship was not enough.

It hardly ever happened, usually, there were more than enough mortals praying for more time. Even when it was used, it normally just left the kami tired, _but Otousan was a flickering kami, he didn't have much power to spare. There was a very real chance that he wouldn't exist after this._ Kagome-chan hadn't once upon a time. She types more forcefully at the keyboard than necessary _. At least he wasn't alone, if there was anything to be done to stop his ending; Kaasan would save him if she could._

The kami burst into the room, their trek through the pathways of _The Well of Time_ finally over. The red eyed goddess snorts, typing madly at the time portal dilation control panel. _And all the kings' horses and all the kings' men couldn't find the pieces to put him back together again…_

After shutting off the intruder alert, the kami were left milling about the room trying to figure out why they couldn't get the system to abort the startup procedures. There is a loud beep and an electronic voice message from the system begins, "Time portal initialization complete, 3 minutes remain until fate matrix setup complete. Beginning to lock pathways, please remain in position until the procedure is completed. Thank you for your cooperation."

Unfortunately for the goddess, it was that exact moment that she was noticed. Apollo had entered the room. He was a Greek god of many things, music, poetry, art, archery, plague, medicine, sun and light. He was also the god of oracles and knowledge, and he was perfectly capable of seeing into the future and sharing that ability with the kami around him… Almost as one they all turned and pointed/lunged/shouted at her _._

Naturally she turned and fled into the labyrinth, a horde of angry kami and their vassals chasing after a laughing goddess in a gold kimono decorated with clover.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Yama had become separated from his vassals by the locking doors, but that was alright. _He had made it in time; Botan-chan was still here._ The room was still disguised as the inside of the well house on the Higurashi shrine. Botan, who had been sitting on her oar waiting, had turned and floated to meet him as he stomped into the room. "Botan! Just what do you.!" He was cut off as Botan stood on her oar, grabbed his horns and pulled herself up to kiss him.

Pulling back, she grinned cheekily at his stunned face, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." Her smile fades and she whispers sadly, "I've seen what happens if we don't do it this way. Trust me?" He sighs, "You know I do." There is a click as a direct hallway from the power room to the portal room opens, lines of power decorate the floor and the room fills with a glow from the well as the time portal opens. Botan smiles brightly again and, plopping down on her oar, swoops into the well disappearing into the time stream. _Damn it all, this was a mess._

He could feel it in the air before it hit, like a butterfly landing on the back of his neck, wings fluttering in anticipation. Taking a deep breath, he let the time wave hit him adding another layer to his memories, it was only then that he understood what she meant. _And damn it all again, this was a mess, but at least it wasn't as big of a mess as it was last time._

In the space next to him Kiyoshi flickers into existence, his hand stretched out in desperation to the power room, and someone no longer there. "Kagome-Chan!" _Yama sighs, this Kiyoshi-san must have been from the an earlier layer,_ because after wiping his eyes on his kimono sleeve, he spots Yama and stutters, taken aback, "Your alive!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

They had her cornered now, _not that it would do them any good._ All the kami, no matter their position in the cosmos, could feel the time fold forming. The renegade goddess stood before them, twin razor edged fans painted with flowers. There was a fox-smile hidden behind the poppy and dahlia painted war fan she was using to hide her face. He would know; he was Inari-ōkami the god of foxes, fertility, rice, tea and sake, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. _And no he wasn't bragging at all, those were_ _ **facts.**_

The woman had led them on a merry chase through the halls of _The Well of Time,_ opening and closing doors as she passed, seemingly at random; eventually she had proven that she outclassed all of her pursuers. _There had been times when he would have sworn that there were two of her even!_ When the safety protocols for an active time portal engaged, locking every closed door she had trapped them. Every one of her pursuers but he and his zenko, had been felled by her trickery. _It was rather inspiring. What manner of deity was she? It was rather fun really, his zenko were yipping happily, out of breath from the chase. Perhaps she would like to do this again sometime under more auspicious circumstances?_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Yama shakes his head, "Now isn't the time for that. Brace yourself, time is about to fold, I will seek you out after it is over."

Yama stares at Kiyoshi firmly, hoping to impress the severity of his request, "Kiyoshi-san this is very important, please watch over Botan-chan and guard your children well." **And then time folded…**


	18. Deja Vu

Chapter 17: Déjà Vu

Yama's time wave memories:

"Sir? We have a bit of a problem…" A young ogre in military uniform nervously stands at attention in the doorway. His King is faced away from him, arms crossed behind his back; staring out of a nearly transparent barrier at the infinite majesty of the celestial ocean. _That was odd, suddenly he had a very strong sense of déjà vu._ "What is it?"

The ogre bursts into tears, pulling his hat from his head and wringing it in his hands. "It's a tragedy sir, _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ just went **down** , at this point all of her crew and the souls they were processing are presumed lost."

Yama spins around to stare at him in shock. _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ was a  powerful ship; it was the ship-shaped embodiment of the massive domain of reincarnation, every living being who believed in any form of reincarnation added infinitesimally to its well of power and indestructibility. _Something had to have gone terribly wrong for the ship to fall._

The ogre continues, " _The Investigator_ has requested the videos from our Soul-Surveillance cameras." Yama collapses into his chair with a sigh, "Tell the record keepers to pull them, I'll take them to _The Investigator_ myself."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The Video Plays

 **Onigumo had been escorted to a soul processing pod by Shunjun, the captain of the spirit defense force. As the pod closed he nodded once to the two technicians who were operating the control consoles for the pods, and left. One technician would start the process and monitor the application of the fate matrix to the soul in the pod, keeping track of nearly 300 different real-time measurements. They were also in charge of dealing with any seeds that had sprouted during the soul's last life, and de-germinating them.**

 **The other would monitor the loosening of the bonds between the soul's fragments, making sure that nothing tore but still got enough room to grow. They would also be in charge of planting all of the seeds the kami wanted added to the soul: memory-vine seeds to prevent the soul from remembering its past incarnations, inky black seeds of doubt, golden kernels of wisdom, and a kaleidoscope of spiraling multicolored seeds of faith, tiny flowering seeds of ideas and dandelion fluff dreams. All of them were necessary tools for the largest seed they planted in a soul, the thread thin vines of fate would spread throughout the soul guiding it from one lesson to another so that no moment they were alive was wasted.**

 **This particular technician, who's nametag read (Bob: Apprentice Technician) was excited because they were using a new type of memory-vine seed. It had just come out of R &D and was already loaded with the other seeds in the seed injectors. Next to him, at the fate matrix console, the other technician, who's nametag read (Dan: Master Technician) finishes adding the fate matrix adjusters and hits the start button. Looking at one of the displays Bob asks, "Isn't Onigumo's soul a little big for that type of code?"**

 **Dan looks at him peeved,** ** _who was the master here?_** **"Its fine, the bastard was doing soul-matter-energy conversions.** **I'm** **the expert here, ignore it." Bob frowns, looking at his own display flipping the switches to begin loosening the soul. "But didn't the experts from** ** _The Matter at Hand_** **say that he was adsorbing them?"**

 **Dan snorts, "A** **b** **sorb, get it right. Did you even read the report, or were you just going off what info you got chatting up that hot chick who works there?" Bob exclaims, "Hey! Seibellas isn't just some hot chick, she's their adjunct!" Rolling his eyes at his trainee's antics, he responds drolly, "She's a glorified receptionist. Now listen, absorption is a bulk phenomenon and that means that he was destroying the souls he ate, dissolving them and using them to forcibly grow his soul fragments. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon and if he was doing that, then he would have been taking in souls, stretching them out and sorting their fragments to match the same position as his. He basically would have multiple souls taking up the exact same position in space. Idiot."**

 **The system beeps and a synthetic voice states, "INVALID ARGUMENT: process aborted, please adjust the non-compliant parameters and restart." This time it's Bob that snorts derisively, "Some expert you are." leaving Dan to mumble incoherently as he pinpoints the issue.**

 **Typing in a line of code to correct the issue, Dan tries to justify himself, "That wasn't my fault, somebody in accounting is slacking." He points to a display flashing the number 4,562,846 that stops flashing once he hits enter. "The evil bastard had** **way** **more karmic dept than he was supposed to." He never notices that the number he had indicated rapidly began counting down. After a few minutes of typing Dan pulls a data pad out of his jacket and inserts it into his console. He downloads a little program he made, and starts it. Bob frowns and asks, "What are you doing?"**

 **Dan smirks at him, "While you were busy chatting up your receptionist,** **I** **got myself a date with** **Kurama Minamino** **." Bob's mouth opens and closes several times before he shouts, "Kurama?** ** _Kurama_** **!" Dan nods and Bob questions further, slightly dazed, "The Kurama that all the chicks,** ** _and_** **some of the dudes, have been chasing for millennia now, real tall, built like a model, cherry red hair, bright green eyes, foxy ears and tail, Kurama?!"**

 **Unnoticed by the two technicians, a temperature gauge that never deviates from the green zone during normal procedures; begins to climb.**

 **Dan nods once more, "Yep." He is so pleased with himself he pops the p at the end. Bob frowns, "But isn't he with that short dude? The one that zips around real fast?" Dan grins, "They had a bit of a fight about something and they aren't really talking at the moment. This could be my chance."**

 **Turning he glares at Bob, "So you understand why there is no way I am missing my date tonight." Bob gulps,** ** _damn his superior was scary when he looked at him like that_** **, "But the protocol's say that we're supposed to stay for the full time the soul is in processing…"**

 **The temperature gauge redlines, but the beeping that would normally be triggered in warning was one of the many things Dan's program had cut out to reduce the power cost.**

 **Dan shakes his head,** ** _man the new guy was a stickler for the rules, didn't he know rules could always be bent?_** **"Oh we will, but I'm not staying for the 45 years it would take to process this soul; there's no telling when they might decide that their done arguing. That's why we're going to speed it up a bit…" Bob takes a step back gasping, "But!" Dan lunges forward and grabs him, shaking him by the shoulders, "Listen here you little punk we're doing it my way, and you aren't going to say a damn thing about it to anyone. Got it?"**

 **Slowly Bob nods. "Yes sir, I got it. But won't someone notice how much power we spent to hurry it up?" Releasing him Dan brushes himself off, straightening his nametag. "I've done this plenty of times before; aside from a few issues with flashbacks they never remember anyways, there haven't been any problems. We won't spend any more power than we would have otherwise, and since no one will check on the soul until the timer goes off, no one will notice a thing. I know exactly how much of the process we can cut out and still get a stable soul at the end."**

 **Bob gapes at him, horrified.** ** _There was no way they could do a good job on the soul if they did that._** **Unaware of his trainee's disgust, he continues, proud of his shortcuts, "Be grateful, this way you get 45years worth of pay for an hour's worth of work. Now, the soul should be stretched enough, inject the fate vines, wait a minute, then inject all of the other seeds."** ** _He deserved some recognition for how cheaply he could process a soul, now if only he could get the paperwork past that nerd Kui-Xing he would be set for eternity…_**

 **Bob nods, "Yes sir."** ** _He was so reporting him for this later!_** **"Injecting fate vine seeds." Dan nods, "Applying fate matrix." The temperature gauge begins to vibrate wildly at the top of its range, and there is a sharp metallic pop from the pod. Both technicians look up at the pod, and Bob asks, "What was that?" Dan glares him into silence, "Nothing important obviously, or an alarm would have gone off. Now, inject the rest of the seeds." With a sigh, Bob laid his hands flat on the control panel and flipped all of the switches to inject the seeds at once. There was a soft hiss as the injectors worked.**

 **…** **and then there was only fire.**

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The kami gathered in a boardroom aboard _The Matter at Hand_ stared at the screen while it filled with fire. Tenjin, the Japanese kami of scholarship, moved to stand next to the screen. "It continues like that up until we reach real-time. Given that the fire is still burning, there is a chance that something salvageable from _The Wheel of Time_ remains. _The Hunt,_ and her kami-taichō Artemis-sama is leading several ships who are out searching now. As for those of us gathered here, we are going to address the root cause for its crash."

Looking around the room the man sighs, "While it would be easiest to blame the Master Technician Dan and his unsanctioned shortcuts for this, truthfully part of the blame can be laid at the feet of anyone who has had a part in the affair. I will begin with myself and this ship." He bows to the room, "This Kami apologizes for issuing a poorly edited report. The paper work contained a missed typo, Technician Bob, who got his information directly from our adjunct Seibellas-san was correct, Onigumo-kun was indeed an adsorption yōkai with over 4 million instanced souls."

"The display that Master Technician Dan pointed to was the indicator for the number of souls present in the processor, not the amount of karma, which was the numerical display above it. The line of code he used, intending to collapse Onigumo-kun's karma into a single bad luck seed, instead caused all of the souls to merge into one unit. We have merged souls before, when we get multiple instances of the same soul existing after we alter the history of a dimension. Usually the souls merge on their own, but sometimes the souls are different enough that we have to do so ourselves."

Tenjin takes off his glasses and cleans them on a handkerchief. Placing them back on his face he continues, "Never before, in the history of _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ have we attempted to combine more than 10,000 souls at the same time. There is a very good reason for this; the process, in essence, bares a strong resemblance to a fusion reaction, giving off massive quantities of heat and energy. The buffers attached to maintain thermal equilibrium during processing could not keep up. The pop that the technicians heard was the metal of the pod rapidly expanding. By the time they injected the remainder of the seeds, the temperature was so great inside that the seeds acted like salt in pure hot water."

There is a knock at the door to the room, and Tenjin calls out, "Enter." Botan scurries inside bowing to the kami. "Pardon the intrusion, we just received word. _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ has been located; I am here to make a portal for everyone."


	19. Fades to Black

Chapter 18: Fades to Black

Yama's time wave memories continued:

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ was shaped like a giant wheel, thousands of spokes radiating out from the center to end in rounded blobs on the outer rim. It had been split exactly down the center by the explosion and fire, leaving a mess of twisted metal and burning bodies to float out into the celestial ocean.

Investigation crews had been dispatched to search for survivors. The results had been tragic, leaving many kami to morn. Many of the kami and vassals working on board the ship existed only as a result of the dimension they had just recycled. The ships they were assigned to, in part, served to sustain them during the brief period between a dimension's end and the resumption of life in a new one, where they would take up their duties again.

With _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ so badly damaged, it was unable to perform that vital function. All of the vassals had died, and of the kami, only those which existed in other dimensions were still alive… and some were barely hanging on. As for the souls, the pods which normally served to keep the crew safe from any accidents, had served as their protection instead. They were all safe except for one badly mangled soul, floating in the shattered remains of the pod it was previously in. It was easily identified as the third reincarnation; it was the only one with the special memory-vine seed.

Sadly, by the time they had gotten to the soul it had hardened, and was slowly forcing out the seeds embedded in it. It would have to be processed again. The soul was taken to _The Spirit World;_ while most reincarnation was conducted by _The Wheel of Reincarnation,_ every domain ship with an associated return from the dead myth, had a single soul processing pod of their own. This time the soul was going to be processed properly, and wary of any further issues, precautions were taken.

After evacuating all of the souls inside _The Spirit World_ to _The Colloquium of Souls_ where they would be held under watch by the majority of his vassals _,_ Yama and a skeleton crew piloted the ship to an isolated patch of space in the celestial ocean. Several fathoms away, a ring of other ships were gathered to serve as emergency aid. _It had left him a nervous wreck for nearly a century as they repaired and reprocessed the soul._ Yama was also a kami that only existed in the recycled dimension, if anything had gone wrong and damaged _The Spirit World_ he would have _died._ _And he was entirely too young to die, thank you very much._

Much to the relief of everyone involved, the soul had no issues during reprocessing. Moving from its position in the circling ring to the center, _The Well of Time_ and _The Spirit World_ were docked together. The fate matrix was prepared, and the time portal opened. The no-domain goddess Kagome was forced on _The Well of Time's_ emergency power source platform. She would die there hours later, as her father Kiyoshi cried out in vain.

The freshly reincarnated soul and the Shikon no Tama were held tightly in one hand of the ferry girl Shiragiku as, knuckles white against her oar, she raced from the reincarnation room on _The Spirit World_ up through the interlock above the ship and into _The Well of Time._ A special pathway had been programmed in to take her directly to the time portal.

It was only after she had dove through the portal that alarms started blaring. In the end, the only reason Yama knew what happened was because _The Well of Time_ had been broadcasting to _The Spirit World_. Over the shouts of alarm from the crew, the synthetic voice spoke, spelling their doom and shedding light on how badly they had misunderstood _everything_.

"INVALID ARGUMENT: an unshielded kami has passed through the time portal. Withdrawing more power from the emergency supply."

"Error. Emergency power supply has depleted."

Warning: FATAL MODE activated, the Primary Operator has perished. Please wait while this domain searches for the next suitable candidate."

"Best fit located: the kami Shikon no Tama is now Primary Operator. Appending new domain to the Shikon no Tama entry in the Register of Gods… Complete. The Primary Operator now has full dominion over _The Well of Time_ and _The Eternal Battlefield._ "

"Transferring power from The Eternal Battlefield to The Well of Time."

"Warning: The current process has been redirected by Primary Operator, adjusting the non-compliant parameters to comply."

"Warning: the programmed fate matrix is not compatible with that command. Please abort."

"Process not aborted; proceeding with command."

"Warning, time portal unstable." _The time portal wobbled once._

"Warning, time portal unstable." _The time portal wobbled twice._

"Warning, ti…" and then it tore.

It was oddly silent for a moment, then _The Well of Time_ shook with a terrible sound. It sounded like it was shrieking in agonizing pain as the massive, web-like array of arms tore off, swirling downward like thousands of cherry blossom petals caught in an upside down tornado. From his position on the deck of _The Spirit World_ Yama could only watch in horror as they fell towards him _._

As everything faded to black, his last thoughts were not on the pain that no words could describe, a mirror to the damage from the falling arms tearing through his domain. They were on Botan, and how he hoped that her assignment to Kiyoshi-san's small boat _The Sacred Tree_ was enough to see her live without his domain to sustain her…


	20. Folds in Time

Chapter 19: Folds in Time

 _That was odd…_

He was seeing two different things at the same time. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, feeling two sets of lungs fill, one was larger than the other. Focusing on his smallest body, he let the breath go. Koenma opened his eyes while Enma breathed out. Slowly Yama split into the two perspectives of Koenma and Enma, some personality traits here, others there, until they were two separate beings, but also one whole one. _It was always so strange, clarifying the different aspects of the same god._

Sitting up in his bed and stretching, taking in the size of his form compared to the rest of his room, he pouts a little bit. _Somehow he had forgotten how annoying it was to be so small in relation to everything else._ Finally remembering his promise to explain everything to Kiyoshi he gets out of bed and starts looking around the room, trying to remember where all of his clothes were.

After quite a bit of memory searching he managed to get dressed _and he remembered where the laundry basket was!_ That was an improvement over last time; he remembered leaving the clothes he was done with all over the floor, for his primary attendant George to clean up. _The poor ogre…hmm that reminded him of something need to do..._ Koenma leaves his room on _The Spirit World,_ still stumbling slightly as he gets used to the difference in size, and seeks out Botan.

He eventually catches sight of her in the hallway, talking with George who is shouting in alarm, "You don't understand! Something terrible must have happened, Lord Koenma _never_ gets dressed himself! Someone must have kidnapped him!" Koenma shakes his head, that was nearly three cycles ago, _all well, they would adapt to the new changes in his behavior. They did well enough last time._

He calls out to her, slightly lost in his thoughts, "Botan-chan _"; the Botan who had kissed him must have been the one who saw him die. He wondered how she had managed to remember… He would have to remember to ask when he saw her again; she should be at the shrine with Kiyoshi-san now._ Botan catches sight of him as she turns; she smiles brilliantly before bouncing over to him. With a cheeky salute she chirps, "How can I help you Koenma sir!"

He blinks, stunned… _In retrospect, her crush had been painfully obvious, and he wondered how he missed it the first time, or the second… or the third…._ Shaking it off, he issues his demands, "Get me a portal to the Higurashi shrine ASAP! I need to speak with Kiyoshi-san."

Turning to go to his office, dreading the paperwork he knows is already stacked up taller than he was he pauses, "And George, before I forget…" George gulps, _It was so hard to tell what mood Koenma-daiō was in today!_ "Yes Koenma sir?"

Koenma's smile is slightly evil and very disturbing on his childlike face, and gives George the chills. _Not happy today! Definitely not happy!_ Suddenly in a voice much louder than the size of his body would indicate him capable of, Koenma shouts " **It's all your fault!** " He turns and stomps away, pleased with himself, leaving George stunned and semi-conscious on the floor. _There! That felt better!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kiyoshi was impatient. _Koenma-san had promised to meet him after the time fold._ _But… perhaps it wasn't so bad to wait._ Seated next to him on the picnic blanket spread in the shade of his tree was his wife, Kānēshon. In another timeline, this picnic would not have happened. She would have been rushed to the hospital earlier this morning only to come back red eyed and sobbing inconsolably, the child that had given her such a beautiful glow just days before, stillborn.

He sighs; _it had taken quite a lot of talking last time to explain that it wasn't her fault, that it was his and he was rather glad to spare her that sorrow this time._ He had never been mortal and did not have a soul. No matter how close he dreamt of getting to her, he would never be able to give her a sliver of his soul to match the sliver of hers in their unborn child. One sliver of soul was not enough to see a child born, even if it was enough to leave a woman pregnant. It took two to create a new soul to be their child… The only way she would give birth to a child would be if the kami in charge of reincarnation saw fit to bless their union with an old soul.

His beloved mortal wife touches his arm gently in worry; _he was so distracted this morning!_ "Kiyoshi-kun? Are you alright, do you need me to pray some more?" He holds her hand gently, "I'm well enough for now dear, let's just enjoy this picnic you made and the shade of my tree for a while longer. Have you tried the ōden? You did an amazing job as always." She shakes her head in exasperation, _ōden was a winter dish, but every time she asked him what he wanted to eat, he either said he didn't eat human food, or asked for_ _ōden_ _._

She hid it well, but Kiyoshi could tell that she was worried, she was all time now that she knew how close he was to his end. Kiyoshi was a land god; over time, as more and more people in Edo had found other gods to pray to, he had lost territory.

Over and over it had happened as Edo became Tokyo, until he could claim no more territory than the grounds of this shrine. His massive ship had collapsed and shrunk until all that was left was a tiny little row boat barely enough to hold him aloft. There were times he wasn't sure if he was grateful or not that his samurai armor had survived the affair, even if it had lost much of its luster. Eventually, as he started getting too weak to answer the prayers of those who came to him for aid, they had stopped coming, and then, _he had begun to flicker._

He had given up at that point and lay slumped against the trunk of his tree for an age, blurring more and more with each successive flicker in and out of existence. He would have remained like that until he disappeared had it not been for one tiny human girl. She had knelt before him, all of seven years old, carnations in her hair, and brown eyes so sincere. She clapped twice before whispering, "I _do_ believe in fairies."

He had been slightly taken aback, after all _he was a kami, not a fairy,_ but it was enough to end his flickering; this amazing, fascinating child had _saved him._ She had been called away by her mother shortly after, but she had left him the flowers from her hair.

There were hundreds of visits after that. Some were long, and others brief, but she always left him a carnation from her hair. Interestingly enough, it would only be when the girl had grown into a young woman that he would find out what had prompted that unusual statement at their meeting, and all of the flowers she left for him thereafter.

Her class had just finished the book Peter Pan as part of their world literature section. And sitting there flickering against a tree, he had looked like a very big, dying fairy to her young eyes. In her naiveté she had thought that the reason for his improved health was the flowers. Kiyoshi shakes his head in amused exasperation at the memory, remembering how he had sputtered incoherently after she said that.

Eventually he had gotten his thoughts in order and then, that was the day he had told her the only carnation that gave him strength _was her._ He had fallen in love with a mortal and received her love in return. _It was a beautiful thing, but also very sad_.

Unlike many of the kami who came to love their charges, he did not have the strength to bind her soul to his domain, so that he might keep her ever after. He could not make her his consort; he couldn't even make her his vassal. _His boat would probably dissipate under the strain, and he would not risk her like that._

 _But…_ Kānēshon was a soul, without his claim, she would be reincarnated. He would have only a single mortal lifetime with her, before she passed on to the immortal plain. In the end, no matter how amazing this life was, the memories, the feelings and the lessons of this life would be just another buried layer, added to the thousands of others her soul had lived…

 _She would leave him behind, and he would_ _never_ _get her back._

Out of the corner of his eyes he spots his kannushi, sweeping the stairs to the shrine. The old man was a bachelor who had never had time for a wife, much less any children. He had been quite honored, when the kami he served had asked to be allowed to pose as his son. If Kiyoshi was to have only one lifetime with his beloved then he would make it _count._

It took far more power than he really had to spare, but so long as he stayed on the shrine, he had the strength to materialize himself. The strength to be real enough to wed her, to hold her, to give her the children she dreamed of, but would never ask him for. Kiyoshi smiles gently at her, ignoring the naked feeling that modern human clothes left him with after a kami's lifetime in full samurai dress... _If only time would bring me back to her each time it folded, I would endure every time._

Having gained a deep affection to it because of her name, Kānēshon was an avid observer of Hanakotoba, and now, so was he. _Carnations meant fascination, distinction and love and he wondered if her naming had contained a touch of prophesy._ He reaches out and caresses the carnation in her hair before trailing the tips of his fingers down the side of her face, careful of her makeup. _He remembered_ _that_ _particular conversation very well, thank you very much._ She blushes madly before tugging on his sleeve, "Kiyoshi-kun! I'm a heavily pregnant married woman; you should  not be able to make me blush like a school girl with a simple touch!"

Kiyoshi grins mischievously, "But dearest there's nothing simple about me…" Kānēshon huffs in exasperation, shushing him. Suddenly she jerks in surprise and looks down at her lap, placing a hand on her abdomen, "Ah… I do believe my water just broke."

Jumping up from his position, and helping her up, he calls out, "Otousan! The child has come; please you must get her to the hospital!" His kannushi does as he is bidden, and he watches them leave from the bottom steps of the shrine, wishing desperately that he was human enough to follow.

He knew that she would be fine this time, but he would have liked to hold her hand as she brought his first born into the world... Koenma-san's ferry girl, Botan had passed through _The Well of Time_ and dropped off a soul last night. He had fused it with the soul fragment in his beloved's womb quickly, nearly snatching it out of the poor ferry girl's hands.

There was only one seed which _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ did not plant into a soul. The seeds of eternity were fractions of a kami's heart, and the surrender of an infinitesimal sliver of their domain. _And last night he gave it gladly. His daughter would hold a single leaf of his power inside her until it was removed by the reincarnation kami. It would be released into the aether then; perhaps it would come back to him, perhaps not. No one had been able to understand just why some returned and others did not, they only knew that they could not force them._

 _And so,_ it was the deepest expression of love a kami could make, as they used it to bind an old soul to the fragment of their lovers' soul inside a fetus. There were some kami that did this carelessly, marring the beauty of the act with their carelessness.

 _There was a reason the leading cause of death among kami was their own_ _children_ _._


	21. Deicide

Chapter 20: Deicide

Kiyoshi had watched them from the bottom of his steps until they were out of sight. He may not be able to do much for them while they were outside of his domain. _But if it were a choice between watching her die, just steps away from his shrine, or surrendering the last of his power of existence to see her live?_

 _She would live every time._

With a heavy sigh, he turns and heads back to his tree. His eyes catch on a display near the well house as he passes it. The kannushi often set them up to attract more supplicants. This one was about the history of the Shikon no Tama, and had little keychain trinkets for sale. He clenches his fists as thoughts on the jewel manage to displace his worry for Kānēshon.

 _How many times, how many times did the kami have to say that someone made a mistake in their understanding of the jewel, before they actually sat down and tried to figure it out? Before someone finally scratched their head and said "Huh! But wait! The Shikon isn't just a shiny jewel we don't want around! It's soul material, wrapped in a spell that makes it immune to time! And aren't wishes is just another word for prayers!_ _So doesn't that make the Shikon no Tama a kami?"_

He leans against his tree and slowly slides down to the ground, the bark rough against his faux mortal back. His form fades out of the mortal plain to conserve energy, but his armor does not return, an easy sacrifice to feel his wife against his skin _. It was understandable that no one wanted to consider the thought of the Shikon as a kami_ ; the kami did not _eat_ souls. Even though the souls had phrased it poorly in their not-so-secret discussions aboard _The Colloquium of Souls_ , they had meant it _figuratively_. But the Shikon? He shudders, _the_ _Shikon no Tama was doing it_ _literally_.

At this point, the only soul fragments that remained in the jewel were those of Midoriko and Magatsuhi, as they were the fragments that served as the basis of the jewel's facsimile self awareness. Everyone who had wished on the jewel or had embedded one of its shards in their flesh had unknowingly surrendered some fragment of their souls to the jewel, and the jewel had _devoured_ them.

Kiyoshi grimaces _, even if it was a kami, it wasn't one anyone could tolerate existing._ But there were only three ways to kill a kami. The first was most familiar to him, having nearly perished from it himself, and it was done by attacking the kami's power base. If there were no people praying, they would slowly loose strength over time. There were only two endings; if they had been souls first, the power loss would go on until they had nothing more than the magic inherent in their own souls. And if they had not, they would start to flicker and get hazy until one day they flickered out of existence and never came back.

Unfortunately for those who sought the Shikon's end, it had gathered far too much power for that to be a viable solution. There was no way to keep the jewel materialized on the mortal plain long enough that it would lose the power it already had. _It would whisper its treachery to the ears of the world, and even if no one knew it granted wishes, they would come seeking it, only to find themselves consumed._

The second way to kill a kami was by attacking their origin. So if Magatsuhi and Midoriko had to meet for the Shikon to exist, the other kami could just make sure that they never met. _It would work, but only if the Shikon lacked the power necessary to stop them._ _They still had no idea where the jewel had been after Kagome-chan had wished for it to disappear forever._ Given that the Shikon had become the kami of time travelers it was suddenly understandable that so many powerful ships working together couldn't prevent the Shikon's creation. _The things the jewel could do with that title were rather chilling._

Kiyoshi props his head on his chin. The last way to kill a kami was to negate their domain. If there was no domain, they would be a no-domain kami, indistinguishable from any other soul in essence. The difficulty of that task varied wildly, but it all boiled down to your ability to kill an _idea_. _Sometimes this could be easy, like say if you wanted to kill the kami of a particular species of animal._ You just had to cause them to go extinct and there you were; one kami without a domain. But most of the time it was really difficult, like erasing the god of scent based communication. You would have to remove everything that could communicate by scent from the mortal plain… _which was more or less impossible._

Out loud Kiyoshi muses, "If the jewel cannot be wished away, as it will always twist the wish to save itself. And if the jewel cannot be drained of power, since there will always be someone willing to make a wish, be it for magic ink, the ability to run faster than the wind, or the ability to use swords not meant for them. There is only one way left to attack the Shikon no Kami."

As he steps through the portal generated by Botan, Koenma completes the thought, "If we are to end the Shikon, we are going to have to end the eternal battlefield _and_ time travel..." _The mortals spent countless hours dreaming of battlefields and time travel. They had shows and stories and music dedicated to the two concepts! They even had games that had killed more humans than had ever existed in a single dimension!_

Kiyoshi sighs, "It's impossible, the Shikon no Tama has won." Koenma disagrees, "Not necessarily. There is a beacon of light through this mess." He receives a single raised eyebrow in response, _clearly_ _there was little Kiyoshi-san could see that would make this better, but he knew otherwise. "_ It's what I came to talk to you about. Right before time folded, I experienced a time wave."

There is silence for a few minutes as Kiyoshi processes the implications of that statement, and the fact that he did not. "I died?" Koenma sighs before sitting down next to him, "I suppose you found yourself unable to watch Kagome-san die again, so you conspired against the plans in place for her. There were several others involved that permitted me to notice them; I think one of them may have been Kagome-san herself, but all of them were from farther along the time line than any of us." _Though, why she was running around with red eyes was beyond him…_

"To lend further proof to the mater, your instance of Kagome-san died seconds before _The Well of Time_ reassigned ownership of the time travelers' domain. And we discovered that the Shikon no Tama is a kami _,_ this time Kagome-chan lived, and _The Well of Time_ did not reassign its Primary Operator. I believe that some-when, in a time we have yet to experience, Kagome-san is going to become the kami of time travelers"

There is a single indrawn breath from his counterpart before he speaks, "Incomplete souls can't become a primary operators, even if they can switch their classification over to kami." Koenma nods in agreement, "Yes, either a solution was found, and the Shikon was defeated, allowing Kagome-san to be complete, or I am mistaken and the kami who assisted you in rescuing Kagome-san was manifestation of the Shikon no Tama as a kami."

The two sit in companionable silence for a while before Koenma stands and dusts off his robes, "It's proof something can happen; now we just need to actually do it. To find out more, I need to speak with future-Botan-chan." Kiyoshi holds his hands out apologetically, "She said she was in a rush, she mumbled something but I'm afraid I was too distracted with granting a seed of eternity to make out what it was. If you want to see her, you should be here when _The Well of Souls_ releases her from the time stream once more."


	22. Dekuyume

Chapter 21: Dekuyume

"….what?" Kānēshon could not believe it was true, _perhaps she had misheard?_ The kannushi was more a father to her than biological father had ever been, and she was honored that he would add her children to his family register, but this was stretching her affection and sanity a bit much.

"I said: I added your daughter Dekuyume to the family register. I wasn't sure what syllables you wanted, but Desukutopuu-yume was a bit much, and everything else sounded even weirder. Don't look at me like that you're the one who said you wanted her named Desktop dream. Humph, youngsters and your silly western/modern names."

Kānēshon closed her eyes and took a deep breath, cuddling her daughter closer. _I am_ _so_ _sorry my daughter. Somehow in my excitement to see you, I had forgotten that your grandfather may have some difficulty understanding the difference between a desk top and a desktop in my exhaustion._

She opens her eyes to gaze down at her little baby's face, even with blotchy skin and her expression all scrunched up, she was still the most beautiful thing Kānēshon had ever seen. _It was such a good name too. I've been living a life you would never find outside of a fantasy novel, a desk top written dream…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

6 months later…

 _She took it back. It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. Dekuyume was dying._ The doctor had called it a benign neoplasm. _But damn it all if she couldn't find anything benign about it when her daughter was seizing in her carrier and she couldn't do anything to make it better._ It had grown so fast, she had been just fine in all of the ultrasounds and her after birth checkup. The doctor's wanted to perform all sorts of tests and procedures but Kiyoshi… _Kiyoshi-kun had asked that she just bring her home._

She had thought that he would work some kami-given magic to make her well. He had simply pulled her and their daughter into a group cuddle underneath the shade of his tree. And slowly, slowly the three of them shook, two grieving adults, and one dying child.

Then, her seizing stopped. Kānēshon wept brokenly onto Kiyoshi's shoulder, the deep grief of a mother losing a child. Kiyoshi pats her on the back, "It's alright dear. It's over now." She pulled back from him enraged, "How Dare You!" Her rant is cut off by tug at her necklace and a child's giggle. Eyes wide, she looks down to his arms, where he has Dekuyume cradled to his chest. The baby's eyes are wide, playing with the shiny carnation pendant on her necklace. Her hand trembles as she reaches out to caress her precious daughter's cheek, all signs of her previous malady gone. "How…"

Kiyoshi looks away, guilty. "The soul… the kami… I…" She places a hand on his arm gently, "It's alright dear; I can't promise that I will understand. But I can promise to listen all the way to the end, even if we get a little lost along the way. That's what love is all about ne~?" _Great_ 7 _kami of fortune, what did he do to deserve even a single mortal lifetime with such an amazing woman?_

He takes a deep breath, "The world is not kind to the children of kami, no matter their pantheon. Most souls are released on earth to go about their lessons, but our children are under constant scrutiny, and our lessons are applied with our direct supervision. We know _exactly_ what they are made of so we push and pull them in all directions, often to their very limits. Sometimes this makes them frail and beaten down, but most often it makes them so  great they become kami themselves in the end..."

"This little one is a very strange soul. She has lived multiple lifetimes, but they're all mixed and jumbled up like..." He lifts his daughter up and peers at her stomach, looking at the soul within, and pretending to examine it. _There was no way he was going to tell her that their first daughter was the reincarnation of their second's nemesis, but he wanted to be honest... perhaps he should explain it as if he didn't know?_

The baby giggles and tugs at his hair with her tiny baby fists. _Even if he hadn't known, it wouldn't have taken much to figure out who it was the last time it set foot on the mortal plain. This soul was one of the most familiar to him, how could it have been anything else when he had seen both its birth and death so many times?_

"Ah…" He sets the baby in his lap and conjures a carnation from the grass around his tree, teasing the baby with it. Dekuyume wildly waves her chubby arms and little fists in pursuit, and Kānēshon giggles at their antics, easing the tension

"It looks like a bunch of dissonant doppelgangers got fused together really." At her blank look he explains, "Unbeknownst to the living, kami have a tendency to play with time rather frequently, and when we do, we get multiple instances of the same soul existing. But if we are playing with time in Egypt and varying the price of kohl, it doesn't affect anything here much, so the souls develop pretty much the same, and resonate very well, allowing them to fuse together all on their own when they meet on the immortal plain. But sometimes the newest incarnation of a soul is very different, like what would happen if the soul's parents were involved in trading kohl. Those souls have to be fused together manually. Because they are so different, they may as well have been considered different people by a mortal's perspective."

He sighs and lifts the flower up just high enough the baby can't stuff the flower petals in its mouth. "Honestly, I didn't think we could even combine that many dissonant doppelgangers into the same being. Either way, it's incredibly disturbing that they all seem to have generated negative karma. And so much of it that the reincarnation kami saw fit to curse her health in recompense too…" _He felt guilty. In another time line, he would have been one of the kami who voted for this option, completely forgetting the pain that it would cause the other souls around it._ Kānēshon reaches out and picks up the baby so she can cuddle her to her chest. She is worried as she asks, "What will that mean for us? For her?"

He slips his arm around her shoulder and leans into her side so that they both are holding Dekuyume, a much more peaceful rendition of their earlier group cuddle. "Unfortunately, we will be seeing much worse than this in terms of her health, and there won't be much of anything we can do about it. No treatments will work to cure her ailments, the most we will be able to do is help with the symptoms. She will probably also have behavioral problems, whoever she was before…" _That poor collective soul had seen some of the worst things the kami did to souls, without the benefit of the kindness they offered. And now all of those soul memories were crammed into a single soul who hadn't had time to process them all._

He gently caresses the baby's fine hair. _If there was anything that could help her now it would be Kānēshon's love. It could soothe all the hurts for Dekuyume as it had done for him if she let it._ "I am no diviner of souls, but she is familiar to me, as if I had seen her before in another form… If she is anything like the last soul I saw like this, then I can easily guess that she has spent countless lifetimes hated and unloved. Some were her own doing, others not, but it is going to take a lot of time and love to turn this child into someone your society will not look down on." He chuckles softly, "I'm sorry dear, but it doesn't look like you got the easy child to start with."She huffs and shushes him, "I'm a strong woman! I just watched my baby die! I can do anything now!"


	23. Strong Enough

Chapter 22: Strong Enough

1 ½ years later…

 _She didn't know if she could do this…_ She could take the mysterious illnesses that were here and gone in a single night, the horrors of septic infections, and the familiar faces of measles and head colds in a twisted murderous form. She was strong enough to weather the judgmental stares that came with the hemophilia's bruising, the imperfecta's broken bones, the starved body from the hyperthyroidism; and all of the calls for child protective services because of them. Not to mention all of the other terrible things the kami saw fit to disfigure her daughter with.

She was even strong enough to hold her little girl every time she died, sure in the knowledge that her daughter was strong enough too…

 _She didn't know if she was strong enough for this though… but_ _ **damn**_ _it all she was going to try!_ It was during one of the symptom free periods that shone like sun through the constant storms of illness and disease, that she had taught her daughter how to say "Okaasan!" The poor child hadn't seemed to understand what the word meant at first, giggling as she called everything mother… but when she understood what it meant? Her eyes had dilated in a strange way and then… _Dekuyume had flinched._ She had recoiled back as if struck, _she stopped smiling and laughing and hugging and Kānēshon felt like the worst mother_ _ever_ _._

She knew it wasn't her, Kiyoshi had said so… It took him watching one as it happened, but at least they knew why her behavior suddenly changed. His explanation? A paper net can catch a few goldfish, but not a school. _Apparently the thing in Deku-chan's soul that stops her from remembering her past lives was different than everyone else's. It had been tampered with so that a kami could allow her to remember at some point. But in between the massive amounts of memories that constituted her past life, and the seed of eternity from Kiyoshi-kun… any strong harmonic resonance between that life and this one allowed some memories to slip through… and they were horrible enough to cause_ _this reaction_ _…?_

 _What kind of idiot tampers with something that important?_

 _It may not have been her fault, but it hurt. It hurt so much that her precious daughter wouldn't let her comfort her anymore._ And sometimes, when Dekuyume was sleeping and Kiyoshi was off doing kami things on the immortal plain, she would hold a picture of the three of them sitting happily under the sacred tree _and she would_ _ **hate**_ _the kami for what they must have done to that soul to make it fear its own mother._

 _Dekuyume-chan's behavior got worse after that, and she knew, she_ _knew_ _that was not her fault either. But no matter what she did, she just didn't seem to be making a difference. Kiyoshi-kun had suggested that she enroll Dekuyume-chan in a school of some sort._ The whole point of the incessant illnesses was to ensure that Dekuyume was learning and improving her karma. They should see a little bit of ebb in the intensity of the illnesses if she growing in any direction _. It also didn't hurt that her daughter was brilliant; performing tasks at half the age experts said she should be able to, a rare benefit in the pile of troubles the memories brought._

After showing that her daughter qualified, and providing several dozen medical references from a doctor loyal to the shrine. Kānēshon had enrolled Dekuyume-chan in an early start program. _Bless that man for believing, for understanding, and for providing them with all of the documentation they needed to show that she wasn't contagious, but was worth taking the time to teach. She would have to remember to do something nice for Ishida Ryūken-san later._

It was then that they found a new aspect to her behavior. She was cold to everyone, not just them, and when she wasn't cold she was **vicious**.

Her accomplishments in the classroom had only highlighted her interpersonal failings, hence why Kānēshon was here at the school today. "I understand Sensei, I will take Dekuyume-chan home for the day and speak with her about this."

She bows, and he bows back. "Please see that you do, while we are always glad to teach brilliant students, no matter their physical impediments, there is no excuse for a two year old to violently attack another child for name calling. Setsuko-chan had to be sent to the emergency room for stitches. It will be weeks before she can write again." Kānēshon cringes internally, bowing once more. "I am so very sorry." He returns her bow, "I am as well. Please keep her home for the week."

Dekuyume followed her mother out of the school, trotting along by her side to the train. The ride home on the train was very quiet, leaving her to scratch idly at a network of scabs underneath her sleeve, a residual effect of something or other that had killed her last week. _The silence was a glaring change in Kaasan's usual behavior. Normally she would ask question after question about her day. It was weird._ Dekuyume was almost tempted to speak, but her mother's knuckles were white against the strap of her purse.

Dekuyume's eyes dilated, ((there were thousands of them, other mother's who had been her mother but weren't this mother and how their knuckles had turned white as they grasped the nearest object to throw at her, to beat her with, as they choked the life out of her tiny neck. _))_ Dekuyume freezes before she takes one tiny breath. The resonance ends as quickly as it began, her eyes coming back into focus. _Kaasan will hurt me?_

The walk after they get off the train is also quiet. Dread slowly builds inside the two year old as she trudges along beside her mother, close, but refusing to hold her hand. She does not flinch when her mother picks her up to climb the stairs. Too many memories of things she had never experienced, but still remembered had taught her that flinching never helped, it only made the hands crueler. They are in the house, seated at the dinner table when Kānēshon finally speaks. "Please explain what happened today."

Dekuyume does not meet her eyes, and stares at her hands. ((Why?! All she had done was try to see how many colors his eyes were! He could have just told her to stop staring if he didn't like it. She would have listened. But he didn't and now she would never be able to see again. The scars his claws left on her face were enough to guarantee that…)) She tucks her head further down, another reason to never look an angry alpha in the eyes. _Her mother is an alpha so looking up and into her eyes is bad, and so she does not._ But keeping silent in the face of a question was worse, and so with a small trembling voice, she speaks.

"Setsu-tan said my name wuz dumb and said I'z shoullda ben cald Sicky-chan. I tolded her that she wuz dumb. She hitted me then, so I made sure she wuddent ever hitted me 'gain." Dekuyume takes a chance to glance up at her mother through her bangs, _she looked safe now_. "Kaasan? Whyd you gimme such a weird name. Theyz mean`t me. I don't wan go back." Kānēshon sighed. _It was a disturbingly violent response to a very normal childhood growing pain. She could remember asking her mother the same question at some point in her own youth. But how to deal with this? She didn't want it to happen again, but she didn't want to hurt the poor soul, the kami were doing enough of that._

"Dekuyume-chan, if the only thing Setsuko-chan could find wrong with you was your name then she must think the rest of you is pretty amazing. I understand why you got into an argument with her, but you shouldn't have reacted so strongly. She had to go see a doctor because of what you did. And I know her doctor isn't anywhere near as nice as yours is."

Dekuyume clenches her little hands and trembles slightly as she asks, "Are Kaasan goin to punish Deku-tan?" It was such a pathetic display that she almost said no, _but if she did that then her daughter wouldn't learn anything._ She sighs _, when all else fails, turn to religion_ , "Dekuyume-chan, you will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger."

Naturally this concept was a bit much for a 2 year old, even one so intelligent. Seeing the confused expression on her face, Kānēshon explains, "I don't have to punish you, because you have already punished yourself. You feel really bad right now don't you?" Her daughter's eyes are so wide in their surprise, as she slowly nods. _But she was making eye contact. That was good, how long had it been since she had seen her daughters pretty eyes?_ "Next time be silent and see what happens, I think you will be surprised by how beautiful it is to be silent when someone expects your anger." Dekuyume was adorable as she nodded repeatedly in response.


	24. Bricks

Chapter 23 **:** Bricks

 _If it wasn't one thing it was another. Kiyoshi no kami-sama but she felt like such a terrible mother some times. After the incident with Setsuko-chan things had settled down for a bit, illnesses aside, and Dekuyume-chan seemed to have taken the lesson to heart._ Looking back, Kānēshon realized she should have known better. Slowly, over the course of the year, Dekuyume had gotten even colder; _she hadn't even thought it was possible._ She had been helpless to understand why, until it all came out at once at the end of the school year.

 _The other students, led by Setsuko-chan, vengeful and jealous of her scholastic achievements, had turned to bullying when they realized that Dekuyume-chan would only walk away._ Dekuyume had repaid them in kind. If anyone had suspected that it was possible for a 2 year old to do such a thing, much less understand the implications of it, she didn't know what would have happened to her daughter. Except for a new fear in the hearts of her schoolmates, nothing much came of the event and it was passed off as bad organization on the schools part.

After all, attempted murder wasn't really something you expected of a 2 year old.

The event was a school held student-teacher-parent picnic a week before the end of the term. Somehow Dekuyume had managed to find out if any of her bullies had food allergies, or foods they just didn't like, and managed to switch all of the lunches around... had a teacher not had epi-pens just in case, four children would have either died or been sent to the hospital. No one had accused Dekuyume, but the smile on her face while her classmates had spat out their food, or gone into anaphylactic shock had left no doubt in some people's minds.

 _How? How was she going to fix this? What could she possibly say to her daughter that would fix this? What had that soul seen that even without most of its memories,_ _this_ _would look like the appropriate response to bullying?_ This time religion would not help her, so while Dekuyume was in her room thinking about what she had done, Kānēshon turned to the next highest power, the internet.

There were thousands of articles of advice, but in the end she thought she had found the best thing. She wanted to get right into it, but first she needed to know why her daughter hadn't said anything to her. Dekuyume's response had been painful, _just what had the kami done to this soul!_

 _Dekuyume hadn't thought her mother would care._ Kānēshon had cried, and pulled her daughter into a hug. It had taken ten minutes of crying and stuttered promises that she cared, _that she would_ _always_ _care,_ before her daughter had timidly hugged her back. _She had hugged back!_

After blowing her nose and wiping her eyes, Kānēshon had knelt on the ground, eye level with Dekuyume and begun a conversation that would change their relationship forever. "A very wise man once said, that a person should be selective in their battles because sometimes peace is better than being right. Clearly we have gone past that point and I am so _proud_ of you for trying, most people aren't even strong enough for that. But darling, holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It never works out for the better."

As she listened, Dekuyume felt tired, _she didn't really know why, nothing really bad had happened yet_. ((But people were the same now as they had always been, cruel, vicious and self serving. Except for _her_ , but she wasn't _here._ )) "I don't wanna jus let them hurt me Kaasan. I don't wanna let them win." ((Because once they won, they never let you out of their domination, not even if you _crawled._ ))

Kānēshon picked her daughter up and carried her into the kitchen. Enjoying the fact that she wasn't struggling to get away, and almost seemed content to cuddle, Kānēshon didn't even put her down to make tea. "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by kami or by yōkai, heaven or hell. Now, I am going to give you some rules, and I don't think you will have any problems following them."

Sitting down in her favorite chair, with Dekuyume in her lap, she pours them both some tea. "The first rule is the most important. If you have a problem with anything or anyone I want you to tell me. I am your Kaasan, my job is to help you grow up and I can't do that if you don't let me." She looks down at her daughter's beautiful brown eyes beseechingly, _and merciful Kiyoshi no kami, she_ _ **agrees.**_

She takes a sip of her verbena tea, _the flowers meant cooperation and she needed every little bit of help she could get!_ It was so strange to see such a mature expression on a child's face, _but Kiyoshi-kun had said that this soul in particular had over_ _4.5million_ _lives blended into a single past life; that was a lot, even if a bunch of them had been repeats…so it wasn't that much of a surprise._

"Good, thank you for helping me be a good Kaasan. Now, considering how much attention you must have paid to your schoolmates to find out what their allergies are, you've probably also noticed that bullies don't care about the rules. That no matter what someone does, there is no way to make a bully stop and some things only make the bully try harder. This is because the problem isn't with the person under attack; it's with the bully and their disregard for socially acceptable behavior."

"While I had you in your room thinking, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I could do to help you with this. Lots of people had things to say, but we are going to try the best solution I could find. Ok?" The child in her lap looks uncertain, but nods anyways, "All right, so the second rule is also the easiest. If someone does something you don't like. Ask them to stop. If they do not stop you go to rule three. Rule three is also easy; I want you to tell the person in charge that they won't stop. This could be your Sensei or it could be a senpai, but I promise, as long as you follow rules one, two and three I won't ever get mad or punish you if you have to use rule four."

Dekuyume's eyes are wide, staring up into her own, nodding along to each rule. _It was so adorable! Ah. Serious face, serious face Kānēshon!_ She takes a sip of her tea, and squeals inwardly as her daughter copies her actions, "Now rule four, if the person in charge does not make them stop, you have my permission to do what it takes to make them stop."

Dekuyume wasn't quite sure what to make of this. It was new. This woman who was Kaasan was different. She wasn't her, but… Kaasan didn't want her to be hurt. Maybe. Maybe she wasn't the only one who could be kind? Dekuyume nods hesitantly, "Ok, Kaasan. I can do it."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Things got better between the three of them. Slowly Dekuyume allowed her mother and father into her heart. Together, they struggled through the trials of Lupus, Polio, Muscular Dystrophy, COPD, and the teary, quiet deaths, as Dekuyume went gently into the night, only to rise like a phoenix with the dawn. Dekuyume still tried to do everything herself most of the time, proving herself to be a very independent soul.

It happened slowly, _but eventually her daughter began to go to her with questions_. Some were simple, others were strange and complicated and some of the things her daughter asked about _had_ to have been a test of Kānēshon's authenticity. _There was just no other way some of the things that came out of that girls mouth were legitimate questions! …She hoped._

But she didn't judge, she had no idea what kind of battles were going on in that poor soul as it tried to come to terms with having kind, reliable parental figures _for what appeared to be the first time ever… **D**_ _ **amn**_ _those reincarnation kami!_

There were some good times though; the three of them would have a picnic underneath the sacred tree once a week. They discovered that their little girl loved flowers, and so they taught her Hanakotoba. Amazingly it did wonders for herself self expression and the two adults would frequently find flowers left for them all over the house. _It had brought the two of them to tears when one day Deku-chan had brought the two of them bluebells._ Of course, the neighbor hadn't been too pleased that the little girl had absconded with her flowers, roots and all, _but it was the thought that counted right?_

 _It wasn't all blooming iris after that. The illnesses made sure of that,_ and if sometimes the school called skeptical and full of questions, she just blamed it on generally poor health, and directed them to their wonderful doctor. _Also, the past resonance things were getting more common and she finally cornered Kiyoshi and asked about them in depth._

 _Apparently, not even the realm of the Kami was immune to politics, espionage, and intrigue. Kiyoshi-kun was full of stories and warnings on the topic; it would have been more entertaining if it didn't have such an impact on their lives though…_

Kānēshon watches her daughter do her homework over the rim of her azalea painted teacup. He also said to be prepared; the world was not kind to the children of kami, often giving them impossible tasks and burdens too heavy for a normal soul to bear. _As if surviving her childhood wasn't difficult enough on Deku-chan!_

She could only hope that by the time that happened she would have managed to give her daughter the means to build an unshakable foundation out of the bricks the world would throw at her.


	25. Kagome

Chapter 24 **:** Kagome

It was a quiet day in 1981 while they were sitting in their daughter's room solemnly, when her 7 year old daughter asked her one of the strangest questions yet. She spent the last of her shallow, gurgling breaths to ask, "Kaasan? Who is that in your tummy?" Kānēshon had been thrown for a loop and almost completely missed her daughter's death.

Her hands clench tightly around Dekuyume's, while on the other side of the day bed, Kiyoshi does the same. Then there is a pulse, resonating outwards like ripples in a pond once, twice and then on the third; Dekuyume breathes in once more. The fluid that had filled her lungs was gone as if it had never been there.

Next to them, Kiyoshi sooths his daughter's hair back gently, explaining as she drifts off to sleep. "Well dear, I wanted to let you find out on your own, but yesterday while you were napping and my kannushi and our daughter were off to see Ryūken-san, a ferry girl brought another soul. Our little celebration on Tanabata two weeks ago has borne fruit." She gasps, a hand drifts to her stomach, "You mean?" He grins, _it would be nice to see Kagome-chan again, and there were so many facets of Dekuyume-chan's soul that were only revealed for her._

"Yes dearest, you're going to be a mother again." His smile turns mischievous, " _Now_ you get the easy child." She scoffs and shushes him, "Don't be silly, after Deku-chan _every_ child is the easy child." She moves around the bed to hug him, whispering into his chest, "It's so _hard_ , but _so, so worth it."_ He smiles, holding her close, "Yes, it is isn't it?"

She frowns after a moment and slightly pulls back to look up at him, "But if she was gone, how does she know?" She could feel the shaking in his chest as he quietly laughed, "There are some things that have to remain secret a bit longer dear, don't worry. Everything will be fine in the end."

Dekuyume turns over in her sleep so that she is facing her parents; there were some things that the reincarnation process couldn't remove from a soul _, her ability to sense_ _her_ _was one of them._ She mumbles in her sleep, "Okaeri, imouto…" Her parents laugh quietly.

But in his heart Kiyoshi is worried, Botan never arrived with the oldest version of Kagome and the Shikon no Tama. _It may very well be that they had lost before they had a chance to begin._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _And finally, finally, everything was fine._ The illnesses never went away, or abated past a certain point, but they melted into the background, just another part of life. Dekuyume opened up to them, and while she was never as sweet as she had been before that first resonance, the three of them felt like a family again. All of this a product of the second blessing to their family, a daughter she had named Kagome in a moment of inspiration. As she does the dishes, she listens and watches through the open window as Dekuyume helps her little sister walk. _Why is it that they only do the cutest things when she can't get to a camera?_

She grins to herself as her eldest hovers just out of range of the toddler, ready to catch her if she needs it, encouraging her every step of the way. As they finally make it to the shade of the sacred tree Kagome shouts "Yatta!" and they collapse together giggling. Kānēshon's jaw aches with joy as Dekuyume sits up and ruffles her little sister's hair and grins, _a real honest to kami grin!_ And pulling out a crown of daises saying, "I knew you could do it imouto, you can do _anything_ you set your mind to." She then places the crown on Kagome's head. From the exuberant noises it is easy to tell that she is pleased.

She wants to look, but Kānēshon has to take a moment to herself as she cries happily into her dishwater. _It really was desk top written dream; they had defeated their nemesis and it was honey suckles and irises all around._ She takes a deep fortifying breath as she listens to them cloud watch with Kiyoshi.

As she pulls herself together she remembers how worried she was when Kagome was born. There were enough problems with Dekuyume's behavior already, what would they see with another child thrown into the mix. _Somehow in all of her imaginings, she had never considered this…_

It had been so unnerving when they had introduced their two children to one another. Dekuyume had just stared at the tiny brown eyed bundle in her mother's arms for hours. _For a while she had wondered if Deku-chan now had some disease that prevented blinking, because she would swear that the girl hadn't blinked once.._. She was a little too small, and a little too sickly, but eventually she had decided that with some support it would be fine, so she asked "Would you like to hold her?"

She had held out Kagome slightly, but Dekuyume had simply stared, eyes blown wide and dilated as memories rained down on her, they lasted for long enough that she brought Kagome back to cradle against her chest. Had the room not been so quiet because of the time of night she would have missed as Dekuyume whispered, "I don't want to hurt _her_ anymore."

Kānēshon smiles, slightly uncertain before she remembers something her mother told her before she went on her first date with her husband. _She had been so nervous!_ First dates were hard enough, but a first date with a _kami?_ She smiles gently at her daughter and pats the bed next to her, encouraging her to come closer. Eventually Dekuyume is on the bed, gently caressing her little sister's hair and cheek in a way that is _all_ Kiyoshi.

"Deku-chan, to know someone is to hurt and be hurt them. The most important thing to remember is that there is a very big difference between hurting them with your actions and hurting _with_ them. Your pride will tell you it is impossible, experience will tell you it is risky, but if both are drowned out by the whispers in your heart that tell you to give it a try, go forward and never look back. If it is truly important to you, you will find a way, if not, you will find an excuse." She does to Dekuyume as she had done to Kagome, pausing to tuck a lock of hair behind a tiny ear.

"Shared joys are doubled, but shared sorrows are halved; so in the end knowing someone is always better. Besides she is your imouto now, you're the only person in the whole world who can be her Anesan." Dekuyume finally looks away from Kagome and into her mother's eyes. Kānēshon feels as if she is on the kami's scales of judgment for a moment, before Dekuyume looks back at Kagome.

Dekuyume's face softens in an unfamiliar way, and in the silence of the hospital room whispers, "She's mine now. **And no one will take her away from me** ** _."_**

 _It had been a little disturbing really, but nothing much seemed to have come from it, so maybe it was fine? …somehow she doubted it._


	26. Math Hates Me

Chapter 25: Math Hates Me

The grass was green around the well as they climbed out. That was her first clue that they were in the wrong time, considering that they were shooting for October. The second was the heat, and the chirping cicadas, and the last made them quickly dart into the trees. "Inuyasha! SIT BOY!"

A red eyed goddess gives a pointed look to a goddess who is wearing a school uniform of all things. The other huffs, as behind them a girl stomps up the path and jumps down the well they had just left, "~ _Wench, wench, wench, I have a name you know! ARGH! Why does this test have to be on math!"_ The fuming girl disappears in a ripple of magic from the well.

The red eyed goddess snorts and steps out from behind the tree towards the other. Red meets blue and she quips, "Let me guess, you fail that test." Kagome no kami huffs again, straightening her skirt as she gets up from her position underneath a bush. "That's not my fault you know! _Math hate's me,_ and the feeling is _mutual_."

As the other kami removes some leaves from her simple kimono, it changes patterns to freesia, " _Right~ sure it does_. Now, are we just going to keep jumping in and out of _The Well of Time_ until it spit's us out after Naraku-san's defeat, before Botan-chan's appointment to _The Sacred Tree_ , and while Kiyoshi-sama is at Izumo Taisha for Kannazuki, or are you just going to do the math?"

Kagome no kami crosses her arms and harrumphs before she marches to the well, "Mental Abuse To Humans M.A.T.H., that's all I'm saying." She taps the side of the well three times and it pulses three times in response. Together the two of them jump in to the manifestation of the time portal generated by _The Well of Time_ as it sits half in and out of the mortal plain.

It doesn't even take three clues for them to realize they are not in the right time, again. The ice at the bottom of the well, and the yōkai bones currently being destroyed by the security system are testament enough. Kagome stomps her foot, "I don't believe this!" Beneath her foot something is crushed with a juicy squelch, "Ewww! Ew Ew Ew!" The two of them swiftly jump out, and are forced to wait while the defenses do their work, deconstructing the matter before trying again.

If there was ice in the well, there was three feet of snow outside of it, nearly hiding it from view. The other goddess just shakes her head _, it was rather amusing really_ , "It's rather ironic that the kami of time travel has such a hard time with math." Kagome no kami shouts "And what's that supposed to mean?" as she stomps over and glares up at her counterpart who conjures them a kotatsu to sit under.

The other goddess says nothing as she sits. Kagome follows, and tea appears on the table, nice and hot. Kagome takes a sip, "You're a showoff, you know that right?" The other goddess just shrugs and the table is suddenly carved in azalea and anemone. "The number of things that can be called a battlefield are countless; not so much with time travel. So while your power is infinitely deep, deep enough to drown you if you go too far in, you can still stay dry or sit at the edge and dip your feet in if you want. But my power is infinitely wide, it may only be ankle deep, but there is nowhere for me to rest or get dry. My journey is endless, as it should be."

She takes a sip as well and the two of them sit in silence for a few minutes before Kagome can't take the silence anymore and asks, "So…How are things with you?" The red eyed goddess hums before she responds, "Things are going well, Minamino-san is helping me flush out some corruption on _The Wheel of Reincarnation._ It's an uphill battle, and the more we uncover, the more there seems to be left to find."

Kagome tilt's her head to the side and asks a question while pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil to start doing the math for their next time jump. "How's he doing that?" _Now what was that formula again?_

The other goddess watches her struggle with amusement, "He pretends to break up with his lover and makes himself available, he accepts the offered date, and uses it to pump them for information." Kagome frowns, _those two were some of her best friends, and that didn't sound like it was good for their relationship. It would be a tragedy if they broke up, they worked so well together!_

It was only because they had known each other for so long that the red eyed goddess knew her concerns without them being voiced, even if she disagreed with them, "Kagome-chan, he's a _fox_. He was practically made for teasing humans. Hiei-san knows this. As for Inari-san, the cheeky devil rather likes the fact that one of his favorite zenko has my protection. With the amount of fighting he sees because of the company he keeps, he rather needs it." There is a soft pulse of energy from the well just as Kagome no kami jumps to her feet, paper held above her head in triumph, "Yatta!" She runs over to the well and starts tapping on it, with little pulses rippling back in response.

The other goddess stands, the tea and table disappearing as if they had never been there. "I knew you could do it. After all we're here like this aren't we?" Kagome no kami grins before shouting, "Third time's the charm!" as she jumps into the glowing well. The other goddess follows slowly behind her, jumping onto the rim of the well. She gives a jaunty bow, with a fan covering her face as several humans rush onto the scene.

One runs forward, swinging a glowing sword wildly. "KAGURA! GIVE KAGOME BACK!" She has only one thought as she steps backwards into the well, his sword clearly on a path to cut the well in two. _Ah Inuyasha you fool, you never did learn any situational awareness did you?_

Time ripples around her, but she makes it to the right time, popping out right next to Kagome no kami who was standing there impatiently. "What took you so long?" She gets no response, and huffs as she follows the other goddess walking to the sacred tree. It was just a place holder on the mortal plain at the moment; Kiyoshi was with the other kami at their yearly gathering of Shintogami.

From within the folds of her kimono sleeves the red eyed goddess pulls out a red leather journal, and some flowers. Taking a deep breath, the red eyed goddess ties memories into the pages of the journal, along with all the other things that were currently clogging up the pages. She hands the journal to Kagome no kami, with an assurance she clearly needs. "It will work just fine. Believe in yourself the way I believe in you." _Pity it would ruin all her plans if she were to tell Kagome-chan that everything that was tearing down her confidence was for a reason. It would be interesting to see what expression her face made when she was told that time was part of the battlefield too, but… all well, she would know soon enough. There were some things that just couldn't be escaped, and her fate was one of them._

Kagome no kami hesitates a bit more, biting her lip as she asks, "And you're sure Otousan won't notice that I've given him a seed of eternity of my own?" The red eyed goddess's response is even and sure as she places the bluebells and aster at the foot of the tree. _Pity the kami she was giving them to wouldn't know what they meant just yet._ "Yes, as long as the seed of eternity remains dormant until after he meet's Kānēshon, Kiyoshi-sama won't notice. And he will to be too distracted with his heart to notice afterwards. As to your other unspoken worries, they are non-issues."

"With the amount of wood from _The Sacred Tree_ that the humans have used to repair the physical manifestation of _The Well of Time_ , it is a simple enough thing to proxy over enough power to make sure that he survives the schism." Kagome no kami nods, and with a spell that she learned from her sister, who had learned it from this book once upon a time, she binds the journal in a knot of time and tree roots to lie in wait. It is both forever and a single moment.

Then, there was a time wave for just the two of them. Almost simultaneously red sought blue and blue, red, identical grins on their faces, and a jubilant laugh shared between their hearts.

 _They were both free now, there was no fight they could not win, and not even time could hold them down now._

 _Just let someone_ _ **try**_ **!**


	27. The End of Childhood

Chapter 26: The End of Childhood

Three days after the Shikon became kami of Time Travelers

There are multicolored flashes of light as the Shikon no kami seethes. _She was trying so hard! She had finally gained full ownership of Kagome's soul fragment,_ and already she could tell that somewhere, some-when, someone was already trying to get it back. _Damnation but why wouldn't those two souls just let her have that little piece of their souls! They had existed this long without them, clearly the pieces weren't essential to their beings. Did she not have the right to exist like everything else? She understood the value of the soul fragments she consumed, was she not generous enough in compensation? It wasn't her fault that the supplicants were foolish enough to wish for things that were so easily lost._

Finally the colors settle, and slowly the light expands up and out into the form of a little girl in a vibrant red kimono standing upon the jewel, normally they were decorated with flowers and cranes, but this one? It was a depiction of a slaughter and looked so out of place on a child. She huffs indignantly, as she rolls her garnet red eyes. Her long black hair falls elegantly down her back and floats behind her on invisible currents of magic. There is a strange tingling in her magic. Briefly she looks down at the jewel, checking on _The Eternal Battlefield_. Her ship was fine, not a smudge or crack to be found, _so then.._. Eyes wide with horror, she quickly transports to _The Well of Time._

 _Just what was wrong with it now? She only just managed to pull the damn ship back together! Why couldn't it be as powerful as The Eternal Battlefield!_

What most failed to understand was that every battlefield was eternal, and its power was so spread out that it was impossible to topple. _Sure, it was easy to consider a place where two groups of people slaughtered each other a battlefield, but it was_ _so_ _much more than that._

Every time someone sang "Love is a Battlefield" _it became so._

Every time someone had a battle of wills, _there was another battlefield born._

Every time someone battled a disease, they made the battlefield their bodies.

 _It was silly how often people prayed to the war gods, when they should have been praying to her._ Unlike war, which ended when one opponent died, or both parties were too tired to keep fighting, the battlefield never died once the living all walked away. It remained forever after as memories imprinted on the skin, scars behind the eyes, seeping wounds in the heart, and sorrow in the footsteps.

It was carried on; buried deep inside the survivors long after time did what their enemies could not. Sometimes it echoed inside them so strongly that their children inherited it too. But, even if their children forgot that there had even been a war, even if there was no one who remembered at all, the battlefield endured.

And it endured because even after the grass had re-grown over the bodies left on the killing field, _the world still remembered._ The moment that it was called a battlefield, the territory had "Battlefield" appended to its power of existence. It didn't hurt that anytime some archeologist found an old weapon buried in the ground they said, "I have discovered the site of an ancient battle, and while the shepherds grazing their flocks on these hills make the scene picturesque, this is actually an ancient battlefield…"

In the end battlefields could be forgotten, they could be ancient, and they could be bloody, but they never ever died.

 _And neither would she, not if she had anything to say about it._

She was greeted with an error message as she arrived on _The Well of Time_ , the same error message that had been playing since she gained the ship.

"Warning: the programmed fate matrix is not compatible with that command. Please abort."

She may have been the kami of _The Eternal Battlefield_ since its birth, but it was only now that she had enough soul material to manifest outside of the jewel that served as her ship _. It was nice, having the ability to take on the form of anything or anyone she wished, unfortunately she still wasn't large enough to also take on an echo their memories. The Eternal Battlefield would allow it, but she just couldn't do it yet._

As a result, she didn't know how to change the fate matrix, she could only mess with the ones that were already programmed in. _But she did know how to make something bend to her will…_ "Process not aborted; proceeding with command."

 _See? It was that easy._

"Fatal mode activated." … _What?_

"There is not enough power to perform the requested procedures, please adjust requests to below the displayed power requirement." A series of options displays on a terminal nearby, but she does not move to look, staring in shock at the power meter. _There had been enough power to start with! Where had it all gone!_ _It was horrible, just what was going on!_

Finally moving over to the flashing display she gets an inkling of what was happening. _Someone had withdrawn a huge amount of power from The Well of Time, to cast a time spell._ With a growl she stomps her foot. "KAGOME! You Wretch!" _The Well of Time_ was a time sensitive domain, so it was entirely possible for it to have more than one Primary Operator at any given point in time so long as they originated from different points in time. As Kagome no kami moved through time on her version of _The Well of Time_ thwarting the Shikon's plans, more of the domain slipped out of the Shikon no kami's reach. If enough of it fell back into Kagome's possession, the Shikon would lose the domain entirely. _How dare that dumb girl try to recapture The Well of Time! IT WAS HERS!_

Shikon sighed as she considered her two ships. This was going to be a problem. She had lost a lot of control over _The Eternal Battlefield_ when that girl had managed to shatter it into pieces during the feudal era, and being wished immediately to the end of time afterwards hadn't given her enough time to piece it back together. _It wouldn't take all that long to straighten everything out in all honestly, but... if The Well of Time was retaken, or The Eternal Battlefield was re-shattered…_ She took a look around the room in consideration. The third reincarnation of the soul of her primary power generator was still hovering in the air above the corpse of the ferry girl that had tried to carry them through time without shielding them. _Hmmmm…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The Modern Era. Dekuyume

She wasn't supposed to run. She had just gotten over a very nasty something-or-other that had completely deteriorated her muscles. While she was whole again, she had just spent three months unable to walk, and her muscles had atrophied. _But it was just so nice to feel the air against her skin; she was going to do it anyways! She couldn't run very fast, she had memories of going_ _much_ _faster; but this was all her body would allow, and she would take any movement over the stillness._

Naturally, she trips on the roots of her father's tree as she runs by. As she sits back up with a huff, she looks at her scraped hand. Three drops of blood fall, but they do not reach the ground. The barriers between forever and right-now flutter, clench, and release as the trigger for the unraveling of a time knot is activated. Dekuyume stares with wide brown eyes as a red leather journal falls out of a glowing ball of light right into her lap. Slowly she reaches out to touch it, forgetting the scrape on her hand. A bloody palm is pressed into the leather, _and then the world explodes into being._

She draws in a sharp gasp of air, eyes dilating wildly, pupils so blown that only a thin layer of brown remains. Slowly, as if a fire has been lit behind her eyes a second ring stretches out from the center of her pupil. It expands and expands until the blood red color takes over her eyes, a black abyss in the center. She breathes in and out slowly, once... twice… three times, and then, as her eyes slowly return to normal she lets out a chilling laugh, gripping the journal to her chest "Ku. Ku. Ku.."


	28. Magic

Chapter 27 **:** Magic

Dekuyume stood in front of the mirror in her room, naked except for the journal in her hands. _It was alarming how similar they were in appearance._ (The creature was pitiful as it thrashed its deformed limbs and writhed on the ground, choking to death on its own intestines. While the information gained had been worth the cost of magic and matter, He… hated himself a little for what he had done to Ito. He had performed her funerary rites himself, unwilling to let another touch her.) Red eyes close as he takes a deep breath, remembering old aches his human mind would not let him forget or shunt aside.

He wondered if anyone had ever realized that Kanna was not his first incarnation, or that his ridiculous tolerance for Kagura's antics was because she had Ito's face. _Ito for whom he still felt regret for, an entire lifetime after her death…_

Dekuyume sighs once more. _It should have been obvious, for all that he was willing to take the jewel into his body to act as a power source, he never wished for the Shikon to give him any abilities he did not already have the capacity to perform. With his penchant for adsorbing other yōkai he knew better than anyone that anything easily obtained was often easily lost. If the shard hunters had ever managed to pry all of the shards from his grasp, he would have lost nothing he was not prepared to lose._

He frowns, noting that his form is taller than Kanna's. _He should probably also get used to a feminine pronoun. He didn't have anything against the female form per se,_ _she_ _often came in one. It was just so_ _inconvenient_ _to wear one._ (How dare that monk! He was not a prostitute! And no meant NO!) _Considering the hoshi he so thoroughly despised, he realizes that even now, in this human form that he truly had no guilt for cursing him to endure the curse reincarnation after reincarnation, not when he so clearly unwilling to change. She had no tolerance for rapists._

As he gets dressed in these strange modern clothes, careful to keep the journal touching his/her skin he thinks. _Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to be female in this time period, while there would be some frowning; there were no limitations on her future. The same could not be said for women during her last journey through the mortal plain._

She is out of breath by the time she is dressed, so she sinks gingerly down into a chair next to her windowsill, watching the snow fall outside of her window as she considered her situation. _Really now, she understood that the cheeky red eyed devil woman hadn't had much time to adjust her fate matrix, but these illnesses were ridiculous._ _There wasn't anything to be learned from them except for how wonderful it would be to have a demonic form once more._ _It would also be nice to remember her past life as the collective soul Naraku/Onigumo without having to hold the journal in her hands._ But that didn't look like it would be changing anytime soon, her human body just wasn't built to handle that kind of massive information download. It would take repeated exposures over time to do that without giving herself brain damage.

She understood the basics of how the spell on the journal operated, having learned it by adsorbing an ancient, but ultimately defenseless tree yōkai _; though, even with the Shikon's aid, she never had enough power to perform it. Unfortunately it also looked like there were a lot of things she wasn't going to be able to perform because of her damned mortal form. In the past she would have struggled to come up with a proper reason why, but here in this modern age she had one._

It all started with a basic understanding of algebra and chemistry, and the acknowledgement that yōkai were all incarnations of nature. There was a type of yōkai for every natural thing in the world, everything from the elements like wind and fire, to the plants and animals, like foxes and trees. There were yōkai of emotions and actions, like jealousy, vengeance, adsorption and war. There was however one rather glaring exception, _humans had no yōkai equivalent_. It left only one conclusion; _humans were not a part of nature._ But, then what were the holy people who sprung up from their populations? _They had the ability to completely negate a yōkai's power of existence, forcing them onto the immortal plain in their entirety; not even their bodies were left behind if the holy person was strong enough._ Dekuyume shakes her head before leaning forward to blow her hot breath on the window pane.

In the fog left behind she writes:

Holy + Yōkai = 0, therefore Holy = - Yōkai.

What were holy people that they were the exact opposite of so many different types of nature? The order of kannushi and miko that had governed the training of holy people during the feudal era had claimed that the holy people could do this because the kami gave them the ability to do so, because they wanted the yōkai to die. There was just one problem with this, _kami_ _held absolute authority over their domain, and yōkai were clearly a part of their domains. If they did not want yōkai's to exist, yōkai would just stop existing._

She wipes the window clean before leaning in to fog up the window once more. She writes:

Yōkai = Catalyst Human = Buffer Holy = Quencher

Her smile is grim. A catalyst was any substance that sped up a reaction without being consumed by it; it was more or less the same at the end of the process as it was at the beginning. _Yōkai were catalysts in the kami's grand schemes for souls, causing those around them to grow much faster than they would have otherwise._ If they had something to speed up, then they also needed something to hold the system steady, and to stop.

Humans were like buffers, easing the massive upset in the natural realm caused by the yōkai ability to completely alter the flow of magic around themselves. While it was easier to understand how a fire elemental yōkai could completely decimate an ecosystem, all yōkai drastically interfered in the power structure of the world around them. Humans acted like little buffers, individually they were tiny and weak, but as a collective? With nothing more than the power of their own existence; _they stopped the ground from shaking, the wind from blowing, and the fires from raging. From this perspective they were almost amazing, but only almost._

As she wipes away the writing, she spots the old kannushi coming back from sweeping the stairs free of snow. She sighs _, in the end both holy people and yōkai fell under the authority of a kami_. Holy people were capable of unmaking a yōkai's existence because they were quenchers. A quencher was a material that removed or reduced an energy source, in this case instead of being heat or light, it was yōkai. Both were under huge amounts of strain at the behest of the kami they were sworn to, so much so that no soul was supposed to be a holy person or a yōkai twice. _Though… if her pasts were anything to go by, clearly they didn't care all that much if a human sought out the means to become a yōkai on their own._

Carefully, she stands and walks quietly around the room for exercise. She sighs in exasperation when her muscles burn after just 3 laps around the room. Gingerly she sits on the floor to stretch, contemplating what it meant for a soul to have an identity modifier that was not human, while having a human body. _She supposed it didn't mean much in the end, unless a kami allowed you to be part of their domain, you were only a human with an unusually strong magical source and a yearning for a particular domain._ Leaning back on one hand she holds a hand up in front of her face, palm up. She focuses, and slowly, a familiar dark purple glow forms around her hand.

No matter what the neophytes thought, there were no types of magic. It was just like electricity. There was only one, even if you could adapt it to all manner of behaviors to fit the requirements of the device you were going to operate with it. Her lips twitch into a semblance of a humorous smile before she forces it off her face. I wonder if I can find an electronic device to match each kami's domain?

She gets up and begins another three laps around her room. _Of course, not all power sources were equal._ It was one of the few ways that the kami's drive to rapidly grow souls benefited the soul directly. You see, souls generated magic with their mass, the larger the soul, the more magic it had to throw around. _And hers? It was_ _practically a super massive star._

But no matter how much power you could generate, it meant nothing if you never plugged anything in. She knew enough esoteric magic spells to get by if any of the pathetic excuses for yōkai she had seen wandering the mortal plain got fresh with her, but it was so hard to be taken seriously when you were chanting and waving around weeds. _Getting laughed at by yōkai so pathetic that a human had to be sensitive to the supernatural just to see them would damage her pride so badly it may never recover. That reminded her… She should get all of the ingredients together and evoke an anti-harm barrier._

It was a very powerful barrier that prevented people from entering if they held ill intent towards anyone who lived inside. It wasn't one she had bothered with as Naraku; the barrier only remained in place so long as the people inside did no harm, and even offered help to those who _did_ enter the barrier, and she hadn't been willing to make that sacrifice... but now? _It was strange how easy it was to accept._

Down the hallway, Kagome giggles, causing Kānēshon and Kiyoshi to chuckle as well…

Dekuyume smiles as she collapses onto her bed. _Then again, perhaps it wasn't so strange at all._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _This was interesting._ Kiyoshi watches invisibly as his eldest daughter moved around the perimeter of the shrine. He had been worried, but the surety of her movements reassured him, even if they brought up other worries. It hadn't taken him long to notice that she had been spending her allowance on spell ingredients.

Even humans who did not believe in magic knew that magic was intolerant of mistakes. Some forms were more forgiving than others, but all of them had the potential to ruin a life if performed incorrectly. Magics relying on the properties of the earth were some of the most unforgiving not only in their intensity, but also in their duration. He hadn't wanted to see her hurt trying a spell she only half remembered.

As her voice raises in tone and she switches ingredients he recognizes the spell. His heart warms. How much had that soul grown to accept being bound by a spell that meant they would have to help those who sought aid? Though he did wonder who she had learned it from, the spell was ancient, and kept mostly to the upper echelons of sacred orders. There were temples of major deities that had to wait for centuries for a priest or priestess of merit to cast the spell, and here he was, watching his daughter cast a the spell for such a simple shrine. He grins to himself. _My the other kami were going to be jealous later._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _One step forward, two steps back… At least this time she wasn't caught off guard._ Kānēshon sighs, two children were in the hospital because of Dekuyume, and one of them was her own sister. Kānēshon was at her wits end. _Things had been going so well!_ But whatever it was that Dekuyume was remembering now had almost completely undone all the good feelings that had developed between Dekuyume and her family members. She was gentle with her mother, affectionate with her sister, but she had frozen again in regards to her father, and you almost couldn't call how she behaved to her grandfather a relationship.

 _It was sad. Anyone could tell how much that hurt the old man, except perhaps Deku-chan._ Dekuyume's protective behavior in regards to her sister had taken a violent turn when Kānēshon had introduced little Kagome to the Hōjō's youngest son Aki. They were on a play date when it happened. No one could really say exactly what it was, only that there had been some strange purple smoke in the playground that had been chosen to socialize the children. One minute everything had been fine. The next minute Kagome and Aki were on the ground coughing while Dekuyume stood over the two of them, face twisted in apocalyptic rage as the smoke cleared.

They had rushed everyone to the hospital. There were a few difficulties because the Hōjō family had demanded to go to a different hospital than Ryūken's, and while Dekuyume came up clear; _or at least as clear as she ever was;_ the same could not be said for the other two children _._ _It was difficult waiting._

Inside a little girl a shiny jewel flairs to life, brilliant colors held captive by her tender flesh. Down the hall the doctor frowns as he examines the X-rays they had taken of the three children. _The eldest was clearly very ill with some sort of bone disease, and the boy was perfectly fine now._ Whatever they had been exposed to seemed to have worn off and according to the nurses, he was eager to be up and about. But… there was some spherical object in the youngest girl's side. _He wanted it out._ He shakes his head with a sigh, _now to convince the family to do surgery. It had to come out. He wanted it…out._

Somewhere in the celestial ocean, aboard her most precious ship, a red eyed goddess smirks.

Were it not for her, he never would have noticed it was there.

But the jewel would have its way. _And it would rain fiery hell on anyone who stood against her!_


	29. Demon

Chapter 28 **:** Demon

 _Deku-chan was doing it again… that creepy staring thing…_ Kānēshon is the only one who looks up as the doctor enters. He gets right down to business, forgoing even a greeting as he asks, "Higurashi-san, has Kagome-chan ever needed x-rays before?" She frowns, "No why? Is something wrong?" Dekuyume stirs uneasily in her seat next to her mother, slowly her eyes dilate red as her hand reaches out and brushes a red leather journal tucked away in the backpack she was allowed to bring.

The doctor sighs. _He had to have it! He needed it!_ "I'm afraid we found a very large growth in her side, and we are going to have to do a biopsy to make sure it isn't cancer. Given your other daughter's poor health, we can't allow it to persist a single moment longer." Kānēshon is taken aback by his fervency. _But… Kiyoshi-kun said that…_

She turns with surprise as Dekuyume speaks, voice smooth and hypnotic, "There is nothing wrong with Kagome-chan. She is fine; there was nothing strange in her x-rays. You will add them to her file and forget about them." The doctor nods and leaves the room saying something, but Kānēshon tunes him out, staring in surprise at her daughters red eyes. Hesitantly, Kānēshon reaches out to touch her daughter "Deku-chan?" Dekuyume allows the touch. _The woman wasn't_ _her_ _but she was still so very kind._

The touching made her uncomfortable, after so many lifetimes of violence, but… _there wasn't anything to be gained from turning her away, it would hurt her I think. And as bemusing as it is, I… don't want to hurt her._ "The object he is detecting is dangerous, but not in the way you might think. It's the Shikon no Tama from legends Okaasan. Imouto has a big future ahead of her." Her mother pulls her into a hug, "How do you know that?"

Dekuyume pulls back after a moment and looks up at her mother. _It was a moment for truth she realized. With exception to the times she had gone out of her way to pretend to be someone else; taking on their form and stealing her way into or out of a situation, she had never lied about what she was; not when she was directly asked, and she wouldn't start now. Not to this woman._ "I found something from my past life that lets me remember everything while I hold it. The more I hold it, the more memories I keep when I let it go… I knew Kagome-chan during our past lives."

Kānēshon isn't all that surprised really, with how frequently the memories had been coming through lately she and Kiyoshi had speculated that Dekuyume would remember everything before she was done with her teen years. She smiles gently as she asks, "Oh. Were you sent ahead to protect her?"

The frown that sweeps her daughter's face is telling, "No, I don't think so, but that woman is so many steps ahead of the game… There is no telling why they decided to send me first instead of at the same time. The jewel, causes trouble with every wish made on it. I loved her more than anything else, and I wished that she would be mine. The kami were forced to see the wish come true even though I was the yōkai that had killed her as she made the Shikon."

Kānēshon grimaces, _please oh please don't let that mean what she thinks it does! Because that was_ _not_ _ok! Ewwwww!_ Clearing her throat she begins even though she does not know how she will end, _"_ Ah… that may be a bit of a problem. Incest is rather…"

She is grateful as Dekuyume slashes her hand through the air in denial "No! I… it was never like that. I just…" Dekuyume sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, debating her answer. Finally she settles for the most honest answer she has ever given another soul.

"She's the most beautiful soul I've ever met. It wouldn't matter what form she came in, I would feel the same about her. It isn't lust. It's nothing more or less than eternal, formless and desperate unconditional love. I've chased her through several lifetimes, but she always turns me a way… it hurts… so I become her enemy. I just want her to stay close to me so I can bask in her kindness and now finally in this lifetime, _I can. I have known more peace in the last four years than the last four lifetimes."_

Kānēshon considers her eldest daughter and the situation. _There was more earnest expression on Deku-chan's face right now than there had been in years._ Dekuyume frowns, and meets her mother's eyes, while her fists clench, "Even if I did want her like that, the red string of fate has already given her heart to another… not that he deserves it, the fool."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

" ** _Demon!"_** The kannushi spits as he leaves the room muttering, "And I let that _thing_ on my family register! It's no family of mine!" Dekuyume's eyes are brown and frigid as she watches the old man leave the room in the aftermath of her explanation. _While they were all awed that Kagome-chan was the reincarnation of the miko who made the Shikon, there were mixed feelings all around because Dekuyume was the reincarnation of Magatsuhi. Kiyoshi-Tousan had seemed surprised, as if he had expected her to only remember her life as Naraku/Onigumo. The memory vine seed was weak enough as it was, it had never stood a chance under the weight of both the journal and her time spent in the void. Kaasan was at ease, her earlier warning in the hospital was the cause no doubt. There were only two extreme responses. The priest was on one end and imouto was on the other._

Dekuyume leans her head forward and into Kagome's hair, a secret peaceful smile hidden away. The little girl practically held her sister in a death-glomp and refused to let go. Even now Dekuyume could hear her little sister mumbling about how it didn't matter who Dekuyume was, only who she is. _It was adorable, even if she would never admit it out loud._

Kiyoshi surprises her as he kneels down in front of her, to pull the two of them into a hug, whispering, "I knew, and I was still a proud kami the day you became my first born." Dekuyume draws in a little breath before timidly removing one arm from around Kagome so she could hug him back. His smile is soft. _It was nice to be able to comfort a soul like this… how he wished he was strong enough to fight their battles for them!_

Dekuyume pulls back and her mouth twists to and fro as if she were struggling with the words trapped in her heart, before she finally just blurts out the name of a flower, "Daffodils." Kiyoshi smiles, "I understand daughter."

Dekuyume is grateful, _she may be willing to feel things for these people, but she wasn't ever going to indulge in some pathetic sappy display._ (Even if the perpetrators didn't even realize they were doing it; all moments of weakness were taken advantage of in the end.) Her grandfather had proved that as he turned his back on her for what she had been in a previous life. _And he was right to do so, after all, she was a murderer of holy people, and Kiyoshi-sama wasn't even strong enough to grant his last kannushi any magic to defend himself with._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Otousan. I need to speak with you about Kagome-chan." Kiyoshi looks up from the list of prayers he had received today. He was going over them, hoping that there was at least one he could grant. Dekuyume was a welcome distraction from the depressing results, even a red eyed one. "How can I help you Deku-chan?" She sighs before entering the room the rest of the way. She brings a tray holding several objects in with her.

He sits in silence as she goes through a formal tea ceremony, the red leaving her eyes while doing so. He examines her art and finds it smooth and simple, and if sometimes her hands shook due to the muscular atrophy she was currently enduring, he said nothing. It was concerning that she had a flower arraignment made of edelweiss and tiger lily.

They complete the ceremony in silence. Finally placing the last of the dishes on the tray and picking up the journal she looks up. "Where is _she._ " Kiyoshi is confused for a moment before he sighs. "We don't know. Botan-chan complained of some unusual turbulence in the time stream when she dropped off Inuyasha-kun to be reincarnated as Hōjō Aki-kun. She never emerged from the time stream after that, Kagome-san, the oldest form of the Shikon we know of, and the Botan-chan that aided them are all missing."

Dekuyume's fists tighten around the handles of the journal. "I see. Thank you for that Otousan."

 _This was unacceptable, what was the point of all of this if they didn't even manage to save_ _her_ _!_


	30. Gods End

Chapter 29: Gods End

Botan gasped in horror as the well began to shake. It was terrifying. Not even traveling _17 of_ _millennia_ through time had caused such turbulence. _The third reincarnation had been deposited just fine, and Inuyasha as well, even if the ride was a bit bumpy. All that was left was the Shikon and Kagome-chan, and then she could return to her beloved kami. But… somehow she didn't think she was going to make it._

The well shakes violently, stirring the motes of time in a kaleidoscope of rioting color. Suddenly they still and the colors shift rapidly from blue to red. They blur, madly zipping past her and she has to shut her eyes against the brightness of the light. There is a pop as she is ripped out of the time stream.

Her first breath fills her with fear. She is a Ferrier of the dead, sensitive to the energies emitted by souls as they go about their lives. With a single breath of air she could tell you the age and all sorts of intimate details for every soul for miles, even those who were now kami… _If there were any that is..._

Tremblingly, her eyes open to the shattered remains of the immortal plain. The celestial ocean, once filled with trillions of stars so bright they needed no lights to see their way… held no light, and _The Assembly_ … Her breath catches in her throat with a sob. Her eyes fill up with tears. _There was no life, anywhere_. There were just battered chunks of land and broken ships floating in space in some vague correspondence to where they had once been whole. Even physics had broken down, no order or chaos; just objects existing. She gasps as she feels a tingling in her hands. Bringing up her hands to her face she faces a horrible truth. She was _dissolving_.

Her heart aches fiercely, _the only way for that to happen would be if her kami was dead and the domain lost_. With the last of her meager strength she wrestles the bottle from her slowly descending oar. Desperately she tries to get the bottle open. _Shikon be damned, but Kagome-san at least would live._

She gasps in relief as the bottle breaks against the ground, freeing Kagome and the Shikon. The Shikon shoots up into the sky, leaving a vibrant trail of light as it rapidly disintegrates into nothing. Botan shivers on her knees as the world seems to ripple. Her heart beats rapidly. She could feel something watching her. It felt like some super massive kami squatting down to take a look at her, _perhaps releasing the Shikon wasn't such a good idea?_ She wanted so badly to look around for it, but… she no longer had any eyes…

There is a rush of air, and suddenly all she knows is that there is a kami standing before her. Botan gasps in surprise as the kami jerks her forward into its embrace. It stings, as she is forcibly reassigned domains.

Botan heals between one heartbeat and the next; slowly her eyes open to miko garb. She slowly leans back to gaze upon her kami only to gape in shock. Kagome looks down at her with a blank expression and red eyes. Botan stutters only to be left without words as the Kagome moves over to a slowly waking… Kagome in the clothes she had been in aboard _The Wheel of Reincarnation_.

Botan is surprised to realize that the kami who looked like Kagome was staring at the real Kagome as if she were… _ah well… everything_. Botan turns away, a little embarrassed. Kagome finally blinks the grogginess out of her brown eyes only to do a double take at her red eyed mirror image. She has only a moment before she is pulled into a reverent kiss upon her forehead. She tries to pull away, shouting, "What do you think you're doing!"

It has little effect, and after a few more moments of fruitless squirming, she feels something wet hit her nose. _What is up with this weirdo!_ She inhales sharply as the kami pulls back. _It was so strange to see tears on her face from this perspective._ _She… She didn't think that she had ever cried for whatever they were crying for. There was too much expression on the others face for a heart to feel without breaking._

 _They were looking at her, as if they had been lost for a long time, and had then lost all hope of ever being found again…_

Kagome decides to let the behavior slide, "Who are you?" The red eyed one opens her mouth to speak but no noise comes out, she touches her throat gently and makes a humming noise. Botan intercedes, "Kagome-san, somehow… somehow we ended up on what's left of the immortal plain… _after_ the death of all of the kami. I don't think our red eyed savior here has had anyone to speak to for so long that, well..." Botan looks down, _what it would take_ … She looks up at Kagome, "I think it may have been so long that she forgot how to speak."

The red eyed Kagome looks between the two and nods slowly as if she wasn't sure that was the right action. Kagome turns to her and smiles hesitantly, "Do you mean yes?" The other nods firmly this time. Kagome sighs before pouting, "Why do you look like me anyways? Why not Botan." The red eyed Kagome frowns for a minute before bringing her hand up to her own face, gently running her fingertips from her hair line down her nose and cheeks to her chin. She pauses for a moment before her hand moves to her heart and she looks at Kagome beseechingly.

Kagome and Botan share a look. _What was that supposed to mean?_ Kagome clears her throat. "Have you always worn that form?" The red eyed one hesitates for a minute before slowly shaking her head no. Kagome bites her lip, "Can you wear another face without hurting yourself? It's kind of weird to see my face with red eyes on a stranger." The red eyed Kagome looks hurt for a moment and closes her eyes with a sigh. _There was only one form it would consider, but it had to be better and not_ _ **so very sick**_ _._

Kagome is just about to take the words back as the others form shifts. Kagome blinks for a moment; _I don't know what worse, her looking like me; or her looking like some tragically lonely long-haired version of Kagura in miko garb._ Kagome tilts her head to the side; _actually she kind of looked like that goddess that had helped Otousan._

Kagome nods, "Right. Thank you for that. My name is Kagome, What's yours?" Botan chirps up, "And I'm Botan, Kami-sama, thank you for taking me into your service. I would not have survived without it." Kagome turns and gapes at her, "What!" Botan looks around, "It's like I said before. This is **Gods End**. It appears that we are past the point… that is…" Kagome gives Botan a one armed hug, "He's gone, isn't he…" Botan chirps half-heartedly, "Bingo."

Almost as one they turn to their companion who had remained silent throughout the exchange, Kagome chuckles embarrassed as she realizes she had just made some silly, demanding requests from a kami that was strong enough to survive whatever had done this. It's clear from the kami's body language that she doesn't care, though she does seem distraught about something. Kagome has an awful realization, _if it had been long enough to forget how to speak, had it also been long enough to forget her name?_ Kagome bites her lip, "If you don't remember your name, I could give you one?" The kami nods enthusiastically and Kagome can't help but grin. "Alright then, your name is Kagura-chan ok?"

The kami tilts its head to the side in bemusement, before nodding. Suddenly the kami stands up and peers in one direction before looking at them and grabbing their hands. There is a rush of magic unlike either had ever experienced and suddenly they are aboard a domain ship. It's battered and broken down, and would have been completely unrecognizable except for one thing.

Botan gasps in horrified recognition. They were aboard the ruins of _The Well of Time._ There were no other ships with this portal design. She grasps Kagome's hand tight, as the kami bustles around the ship in determined focus, turning on switches. Botan slowly turns around in a circle examining the room. _Except for the oddly out of place desktop computer attached to all of the control panels that Kagura-chan was now working on, it was the same. The scarring on the walls was the same as that wreckage that she had been allowed to examine after…_

Botan quietly whispers in Kagome's ear, "Kagome-chan listen to me. You know how we failed once to save you, and _The Well of Time_ crashed. I... I think we're in the future of when that happened. I think the Shikon no Kami may have pulled a fast one and yoinked us right out of the time stream…She could be around here anywhere."

A voice speaks from right behind them, "Indeed, she could now couldn't she?" They whirl around to see a disturbing sight. There is another red eyed Kagome. This one was dressed in a simple red kimono sitting elegantly in the Primary Operator seat. More disturbing was the staff in her hands made from what was clearly human bone topped with a skull that had white chrysanthemum flowers growing out of it. Botan really, really hoped that didn't mean what she thought it did. _Please don't let that be all that's left of the ferry girl that had been given that mission!_ The smile on this Kagome's face is a terrifying thing, full of violence.

Kagome grits her teeth before asking, "Who are you." The seated Kagome grins like a shark, "How about you guess, but first a hint. I've been closer to you than any other, so close in fact that, why; I could even make the argument that you were my mother." Kagome holds herself up straight, _she hadn't cowered then and she would not cower now_. "Shikon."

The Shikon no kami claps, "Oh bravo! On the first try even." She looks over at the strange blue hared girl wondering who she was, _perhaps she was the answer to this puzzle before her_? "Obviously I know who Kagome is, so who might you be hmm?" Botan chuckles lamely, "Oh, no one important." The Shikon looks skeptical but lets it slide, far to entertained to cut to the end of the book for the solution to this who-done-it mystery…

The Shikon tilts her head to the side, "Perhaps a little bit of current events to bring you up to speed since your tragic demise? When this _beautiful_ ship granted my fondest wish and erased every part of your soul standing on its emergency power supply, it gave me the part of you I had kept for myself. I rather swiftly conquered your counterpart. In the shock of your death he didn't even put up a fight, leaving myself with a complete soul." She leans in conspiratorially, "After that it was a simple matter to hunt down all the other kami and well, let's just say each one had a unique flavor and I'm almost sorry I only got to taste them once. But I assure you I saved desert for last, just like a good girl should."

Kagome and Botan stare in shock. The Shikon had _eaten them!_

Suddenly there is a massive surge of magic, enough to stun even the Shikon no kami. Botan and Kagome feel a hand wrap around their arms and hear the weak beleaguered humming of an ancient time travel device so far past its prime it existed only because it was _made_ of time. They feel a pause and can only assume that they are waiting for the portal to stabilize enough to use. The thought that their rescuer may be reconsidering is too much to bear. They flinch as they hear an agonized shriek from the Shikon, and desperately wish that the magic wasn't so bright that they could see the veins in their eyelids. They waited one heart beat, and then another and then as the third struck, they were falling though time.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Panting as she trembled in the chair she had claimed for herself so long ago she couldn't remember when, Shikon stares at the well that had given her everything. It was only now that it had come full circle and taken everything away. As she begins to fade away she muses on the last whispered thoughts of … _she didn't even know what to call it anymore, she had changed it so much from what it had been meant to be_ … "Is that so? How… will you save her… how will you save…." _And then, the last kami died._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

There was so little energy left in the dimension that it almost didn't show up on their sensors. But the crew of the Arthra were a persistent bunch, none willing to let their captain Lindy Harlaown down. Though, upon seeing the dimension they were to investigate… Some wondered if they were better off not finding it. In the end they found nothing much there, only a bunch of matter scattered about in what clearly indicated that there had been intelligent life here at one point. There were papers that held no words, and data files with no data. There was no magic left; neither miracles nor tragedies would spring forth from this place again. Their reports to the higher ups in the TSAB held more questions than answers.

Lindy herself had this to say. "As I have said before, on rare occasions, worlds are born that evolve too much, too quickly. When the pressure of that evolution becomes too great, they tend to destroy themselves through technology and science. After laying eyes on such a sad place I can only surmise that is what happened here. I have kept it from the rest of the crew and sworn the discoverers to secrecy, but there are minute traces of time magic in one of the buildings. I pray that whoever it was makes it safely through and manages to avert the tragedy that befell them.


	31. Drowning

Chapter 30: Drowning

Travel through the well had never felt like this before. It was like they were moving through water, so thick was the air pressure. Kagome tries to draw in breath against the torrent only to discover to her horror that it felt like water in her lungs as well. She struggled in vain, but she could not shake the grip from her arm. _She was drowning! She needed air!_

 **And just as she thought she was going to drown** ** _, she flew_** **.** There were colors everywhere, swirls of time and pathways uncountable. Some led down familiar roads and others? They were so different from anything she had ever seen that she was tempted to claim they led to other dimensions. Suddenly they began to move again, and had it not been for the hand around her arm, she thinks she may have fallen in and never found her way back out.

Their journey ended slowly, so unlike any trip she had ever taken through the well before. She watches as the time stream trickles to a halt, allowing them to leave through the portal before them. Their savior steps out into the bottom of a dry well, and the portal winks closed behind them. Kagura looks at the two before smiling brightly and jumping out, towing the two behind her in the air. The world around them ripples as they land, the clearing replaced with the interior of _The Well of Time._ Botan stares up in shock at the kami, _just who was this that they could command The Well of Time as easily as its primary operator._ Kagura looks down at Botan and smiles.

Kagome jerks her arm out of Kagura's grip, and this time Kagura lets go. Kagome ignores the hurt expression on Kagura's face, _if she didn't put her foot down now, it would only continue and she wanted answers now!_ "Just what's going on!" Botan opens her mouth to speak only to be cut off by another voice, "Don't be mean imouto, Ito-chan doesn't have the words to give you the answers you speak. And even if she did, her Primary Operator forbade her from giving her secrets away." They spin around to see a welcome and familiar face, only now realizing that _The Well of Time_ was shiny and whole. Kagome smiles in welcome, "Kagura-ne-san!" The red eyed goddess sighs and takes another sip of her tea. _Why was it that they called any black haired, red eyed female Kagura? It was so very annoying…_

Botan's smile falters as she finally registers what the red eyed goddess before them has said. "Did you just say that her name was Ito, and that she had a primary operator?" The red eyed goddess smiles sadly, and walks up to Kagura/Ito, "You took a great risk, casting yourself through _The Well of Time_ like that; I suppose it's a good thing that Shikon-chan allowed you this form. Had you been a normal ship you wouldn't have fit." Botan is taken by surprise. Both by the goddesses words, and just how disturbingly similar the two red eyed women are in appearance.

She sputters, "But she's a person!" The red eyed goddess nods, "Yes, tell me Botan-chan, isn't a body just a vessel for the soul?" Botan's eyes are wide with shock; "Ito-chan is _The Eternal Battlefield_ isn't she?" Kagura/Ito turns to her and nods. Kagome cuts in, "But that doesn't make any sense! If Kagura was a domain shouldn't the Shikon have absolute dominion over her?"

The red eyed goddess agrees, "Yes, in all but one thing." She meets Ito's eyes, "You have chosen to seek out a different primary operator have you not?" The red eyed goddess kneels and bows to _The Eternal Battlefield,_ far more aware than any other soul of the kind of suffering inflicted upon that which stood before her. "Please consider me." Kagura/Ito stares at the soul before her in surprise before smiling gently. She kneels and tilts the red eyed goddesses' face up. Their eyes meet for an endless moment, and a kiss as soft as butterfly wings seals the pact.

Kagome looks on in excitement, _what did it look like when someone was made a kami?_ Kagome frowns as the two part. _That was lame… no sparkles or anything._ Kagura/Ito sways on her feet and the red eyed goddess catches her, cradling her gently in her arms as she rises from her kneeling position. "I bid all your previous commands be lifted, if it pleases you, you may rest a while in any form you see fit. You've done enough, Kagome no kami, _The Well of Time_ and I will take care of the rest."

Kagome blinks in shock. _Geeze the hits just kept coming didn't they?_ The ship glows for a moment before shattering into particles of light that scatter themselves around the red eyed goddesses form, they shimmer in synch for a moment before fading away as if they were nothing more than a dream. Then, there was a small shiver of movement, and the red eyed goddesses' kimono changed color to a deep blue, speckled with tiny white daisies. They were so small that they looked like stars. The goddess smiles before reaching out and tapping Botan on the head, "I release this soul from my domain, so that it may return fully to _The Spirit World_."

Botan is about to speak her thanks when Kagome interrupts, tapping her foot in agitation, " _I think_ I would have noticed if I became a kami." The goddess looks at her with amusement and blinks in surprise when a fan with a yin-yang appears in her hand. She examines its craftsmanship while she comments, "I rather imagined that becoming the kami of time travelers while in transit through time would feel a bit like drowning. But don't take my word for it, just touch your bare skin to any surface in here, and see for yourself." Kagome chokes in surprise before doing so. _It was so warm, it was still hard and smooth like you would expect from a metal wall, but she could feel the warmth of the power bound inside it._

The red eyed goddess clears her throat gaining Kagome's attention, "I am sorry to interrupt your communion, but we have quite a bit of work to do, and for all that we will be passing through time like water, there is still a version of the Shikon capable of doing so as well."

The freshly minted goddess of time travel nods and jumps into the well without a moment's hesitation. Botan eeps and lunges in after her. The red eyed goddess just sighs, flexing her domain just enough to see that they all pass through the well at the same time.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Down the hall another red eyed goddess bearing the same face as the one that just left, smirks at Inari and his Zenko from behind her poppy and dahlia painted war fans. _It figured that they would be the only ones to catch her. It had taken her weeks of planning with her mother to come up with this trap, and longer than that to get it perfect. Not all of the key figures could be included in the planning process; some of them hadn't existed until Botan took the souls through the well the first time._

Inwardly she sighs with relief, as she feels the time fold forming, and she wonders if anyone will ever realize that the timing doesn't match Botan's flight with the castaway bottles. Her eyes widen in surprise as one of the Zenko transforms into Minamino Kurama and asks, "Fair maiden with the heart of a fox, would you like to do this again under more auspicious circumstances? I have not had such a brilliant chase since I first took my mate."

Taking a chance, she lowers her fan, and smirks at his dumbfounded face, "If you wanted to play, you only had to ask lover." Kurama doesn't get a chance to speak as the time wave crashes over them all. Then again he didn't really have to; his gob smacked face was more than enough.


	32. Fat Cat

Chapter 31: Fat Cat

Dekuyume stood still on the side walk waiting for her sister to get out of school. She was twelve years old now. _It was amazing how much knowledge the humans had managed to gather since her last life._ The things they were teaching to children who hadn't even started puberty were far beyond what had been expected of even the highest of aristocrats in the past.

Dekuyume smiles wryly, _it was actually a little bit of a challenge to keep up with the information._ She was still in classes meant for genius level humans, and rather imagined that she would have been bored out of her mind in a normal school setting. She was quite far along already, and if she planned it right, she would be a well qualified teacher by the time the well opened. There would be no reason for Kagome to fret over her education like she had done the time before.

 _She had known far more about the shard hunters than they had ever given her credit for. Really though, how was it that they never realized how odd it was for an acknowledged web weaver like Naraku to fail at weaving so miserably that not a single one of his prey died in their year long quest against him?_

She closes her eyes with a sigh, holding the journal securely in her arms as she leaned against the wall surrounding the school. _Not once… In all the times they had met, only to part as enemies, not once had she ever killed_ _her_ _. Midoriko had committed suicide to birth the Shikon, and Kikyō… under the guise of Inuyasha he had wounded Kikyō, true, but not enough for her to die. There was almost three miles distance between the cave and the sacred tree. In the end the real culprits had been blood loss and Kikyō's refusal to use her magic to heal herself until she had killed Inuyasha._

An offending smell reaches her nose in a way that she can no longer ignore. She shoots a sharp glare at the cat in the gutter next to the street where she stood. It was battered and bleeding, but it was still alive, holding on to life with the last clean patch of fur on its tail.

It was a sad pathetic little thing. _It reminded her of Onigumo as he lay festering in his own filth and charred flesh after the fire._.. No doubt when Kagome rounded the corner and saw him she would demand that they help it. She takes a deep breath, _for some reason the memories of the past were particularly strong today._ Kagome rounds the corner and spots her precious sister standing next to a hurt kitty on the ground.

Dekuyume watched expectantly as Kagome looked the cat over. _Why… why was she taking so long? Why was she just standing there like that!_

Finally after a moment Kagome turned away from the cat... _What? Why? Why wouldn't she save it? Was it not worth saving? Was it not worth her kindness? He wasn't strong enough to save himself; he knew that better than anyone! It… He ... would die without her. It would be several cold hard lifetimes before he saw her again, and kami but he needed her kindness so desperately, so Why... Why wouldn't she save him again? Please... Please save me again._

Finally Kagome spoke. "Are we waiting for something ne-san?" Dekuyume stares in shock at her sister, "The cat... Don't you want to save him?" Kagome huffs, "Eri-chan says if you touch icky things you become one too. Besides, you're the Anesan. If you won't save it why should I?"

Dekuyume cries, scoops up the cat and runs off to save it, red eyes blazing with an emotion thought long dead to her heart. _Compassion_. Kagome no kami steps out from behind the wall. _It was amazing that she could be here like this, able to watch her younger self without becoming her. But no one had prayed to her yet, she was not immune to time yet, only time resistant. Or something…_ She pats her younger self on the head, who promptly starts crying. "That as so hard! Why did you make me do that?" Kagome no kami picks up a red leather journal from the ground. Smiling she hands it to Kagome, "Because that's how you save a heart. If it were easy it wouldn't be worth anything."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"I'm sorry ne-san." Dekuyume stared in shock, and her hands trembled as she took her past back from her sister. She stares at it for a moment as she comes to two realizations. _Firstly, she clearly didn't need the journal anymore, and secondly… The monk she met so long ago was wrong._ _She_ _was neither a blessing nor a lesson._ _She_ _was both. And this time_ _she_ _was the one who needed saving. Both from_ _her_ _harsh destiny and from the careless, negligent cruelty this modern era was drowning in._

Dekuyume takes a deep breath. _It would be difficult. She wasn't sure she knew how to be kind, and she had so little experience receiving it. But she would try. If it kept_ _her_ _kind ...she would try._ "Well imouto, it turns out we're in luck. The kitty doesn't seem to have any identification and isn't as hurt as I thought it was. Why don't we see if we can convince Kaasan that we need a family pet."

In actuality she had just spent a considerable amount of magic and spell ingredients to heal the feline _. Clearly she had overdone it since the fur ball had gained nearly 15lb along with its health._ Kagome squeals, "Let's name him BuyoBuyo!" Dekuyume grins, fat indeed, "How about we give him a bath first."

She smiles gently at the cat. If she succeeded in saving her maybe, just maybe, she was strong enough to save herself this time. _Now… just what was Kagome no kami thinking manipulating her younger self like that!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

One week later…

Kagome no kami continued to watch them, curious about this new Kagome that would eventually be a part of her. _I wonder if the third reincarnations resolve to save my human self by example instead of trickery and plot devices would have lasted longer had temptation not fallen so conveniently into her lap before she had managed to really begin._ Kagome no kami kind of wanted to interfere, already knowing where this was going, having seen the aftermath before the storm. _The third reincarnations choice would lead to so many horrible consequences, but her will… it would be so much stronger after the cost had been measured._

"Imouto. Come here." Dekuyume smiled serenely as Kagome ran over to her before bouncing to a stop, "Ne-san!" Dekuyume watches her 5 year old little sister, and the minor yōkai that had been stalking the two of them all day as they went about running errands for their mother. Kānēshon would have normally gone with them, but she was at the hospital getting confirmation that she was pregnant with a third child. _As for the kannushi, he wouldn't come within 10 feet of her without attempting to plaster her with sutras. It was damn annoying, and only the thought of what would happen to the shrine (and consequently Kiyoshi-sama), without a kannushi stopped her from slaughtering the old fool in his sleep._

Kagome smiles happily as they veer off their usual path, content to follow her sister anywhere. Once they are out of sight of the road Dekuyume spins and snatches something out of the air. Kagome's eyes are wide as a tiny person with horns and grey skin slowly comes into focus as it attacks Dekuyume's hand, saying many bad words. _His mama was going to spank him so bad!_ "Hey! Leave my Neesan alone you big.. err little meanie!" Dekuyume laughs into her other hand at her sister's antics. _In another life she would have been yōkai enough to just adsorb the imp and rip the information from his brain, but those days were long past._

Her eyes go cold and red as she dips into her well of power, so much easier to access now that the hurdle of her memory had been overcome. The imp in her hands freezes and stares up at the suddenly much more intimidating pre-teen.

His thoughts race chaotically as her power presses in on him _. Just what was she! Only S-class beings oozed that much energy and to make matters worse, she was leaking demonic energy! From a human body! The myths were full of yōkai who had been human first. The Tyrant Magatsuhi had been the greatest of them. Perhaps… perhaps this girl slowly crushing his ribs was to become another? Considering how much power she held even in such a frail human form… He doubted it would take much more than a tiny spark of magic from the right type of spirit for her to experience a Becoming. After all, magic was like fire, it loved to burn, but even more it liked to_ _spread_ _._

Dekuyume kept her expression the same as she watched the cogs turning in the imp's brain. _It was easy to see that he had mistaken her for a pre-form yōkai._ She had considered the thought that she might be one during a meditation months ago, but had discarded it. _She didn't know what would happen to her if she tried to become a yōkai again. The magic only grafted properly to the human soul,_ _and her soul was not human._

There were lots of yōkai who had tried to increase their repertoire of skills by grafting another yōkai's magic into their own, but they always resulted in failure, ripping the yōkai apart into the five base elements of the universe. It was the destruction of the soul; this was the reason that opposing magic outputs were considered forbidden among yōkai, because, even if you were born with it _, it killed you in the end_.

 _There was a very real chance that becoming a yōkai again would simply kill her, and there was no way she was going to give up what she had with_ _her,_ _just so she could have the full biological control needed to slough off these pesky human frailties._ Dekuyume has a vicious smile on her face as she speaks, "So Imp, just what do you think you're doing following my imouto around huh? Please bear in mind the smallness of your body, and the largeness of my protective streak."

The imp gulps audibly _. Oh merciless kami, she_ _knew_ _she was close to a Becoming! Don't let her consider eating him! No way in the infinite layers of yōkai world was he going to tell her he was trying to find a way to possess the little miko who's magic sang so sweetly! That would be suicide! What to do? What to do!? Oh! …It was a terrible sacrifice to make, but there was only one thing that was going to get him out of this. The teapot!_

"I have a perfectly legitimate reason your greatness, _please don't eat me_. I have located the enchanted Jade teapot that belongs to the kami Ebisu, and was looking for a miko to return it. I mean no harm, _I swear it_." Dekuyume's face gives nothing away, millennia of practice being put to use as her mind races through hundreds of plans in the space of a moment. _Clearly the Imp couldn't tell that she had no way of slipping the noose of humanity from around her neck._ "Go on. I'm listening…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume watches the kannushi from her window as he sets up a new display in the last vestiges of twilight. An "anonymous donor" had given a jade teapot to the shrine before dawn that morning. There would be no one looking to claim the teapot as stolen property. _After all, the person the Yakuza had stolen it from was now_ _ **very**_ _dead, and they certainly couldn't do so without having to admit they lost it to a 12 year old._ She doubted they could even get on the shrine because of the barrier she had cast years ago.

She grimaces in distaste; fortunately, no one really wanted to ask the sickly child for much of anything, so she hadn't been too victimized by the terms and conditions of maintaining the barrier. _Things would improve around the shrine with the teapot here. Ebisu was one of the good fortune gods, and apparently the teapot had been made by an aspect of him that embodied tranquility, if the stamp on the bottom was anything to go by._

She leans against the wall and coughs raggedly, blood coming out of her lungs. As she sinks down to the ground her skin sloughs off where it rubs against everything it encounters. She dies an agonizing death in the space of a single moment. She wakes up to her alarm clock an hour before dawn. Achingly, she stands and grimaces in distaste, _dying always left her a filthy mess when she auto-resurrected._ Fortunately, her parents had been kind enough to give her the room next to the bathroom, and install a door that led directly there.

As she cleans herself, she considers how strangely powerful that last illness had been, and wonders what it might have been _. It certainly hadn't been the teapot;_ she had very carefully examined it for curses and possession before even touching the thing.

Outside and at the foot of the shrine Kagome no kami sighs, _it was a pity that the third reincarnation didn't have the ability to sense luck, otherwise she wouldn't have gone within a thousand feet of the teapot._ She eyes the four Yakuza swearing furiously as they each encounter and are rejected by the barrier protecting the shrine.

The third reincarnation's brutal death may have satisfied the negative fate for now, but eventually it would seek out further ways to wreak its havoc. The barrier around the shrine would protect them as best as it could, but no barrier, no matter how powerful, was strong enough to hold Kofuku-chan's influence for long. _She really wished there was some way of making the pinkett go by her real name instead of pretending to be Ebisu. ..then again if she did that, the things she sold may be used as weapons of war instead_. Kofuku was the primary operator of _The Epic Bad Luck_ after all. She watches as the Yakuza thugs slink into the darkness, laying in wait as they watch the shrine. She didn't know exactly how they got from the beginning to the end, which was why she was here overseeing everything directly. _And she really wanted to know._

It would take four weeks, and much testing of the shrine's barrier before their taichō would step in and intervene himself. The moment they lost their skepticism was obvious. Her position, a comfy spot on the torri of the shrine, gave her easy access to their expressions and their words. They couldn't see her of course, not only was she from the future, but she was also a spirit. She sighs as they iron out a plan. _Somehow, someone had caught Kaasan asking Tousan if he needed her to pray to him. The barrier preventing them from entering is proof enough to convince them kami are real, and they are suspicious of the fact that Tousan has never left the shrine, not even for our births… What a mess._

She winces as she hears the final form of their plan. _I wonder if it happened something like this the first time, not the yakuza part, but_ … She shakes her head. There was no point dwelling on the part of the ouroboros that had already been eaten, no matter how time folded... it would never be seen again.


	33. Saving Grace

Chapter 32: Saving Grace

Dekuyume grits her teeth in frustration. _The yakuza were a lot smarter than she had given them credit for._ While Kānēshon and Kagome were out grocery shopping they had been taken captive. _And so had she._ She had been captured easily. _It was_ _ **damn**_ _embarrassing_ _ **.**_ _She would have liked to blame it all on the leprosy Ryūken-san was kind enough to diagnose her with, but it would be just an excuse. This modern era had dulled her situational awareness far more than she had realized._ _And now she was paying for it._ She considers how they have the members of house Higurashi placed.

 _It didn't look good._ Kagome was standing with Kānēshon to the left of the stairs that led up to the shrine, while Dekuyume and the Kannushi were to the right. Each little group had a pair of thugs on either side of them, and standing in the middle was a rough looking man in a fine business suit. _The leader of this operation no doubt._ She grimaces to herself in distaste. _Clearly this idiot had watched far too much television if he was going this clichéd route._ _He was particularly foolish for doing this out in the open with is back to the road,_ already she could spot people ducking back behind their curtains, rushing to the phone to call the police. _They would not get here in time. The leader had no patience…_

She sighs as Kiyoshi comes to stand on the last step of the shrine. His face is still and his eyes are fierce. Dekuyume remembers the painting Kānēshon had done of him before he had sacrificed his armor to liberate enough energy to take human form. _The expression would have been far more intimidating had he retained his samurai armor._ The leader smirks a disgustingly typical bad guy smirk and begins his self aggrandizing speech. "Well now, if it isn't the kami himself come to grace us with his presence. Now, give me back my teapot and maybe I will be nice enough to let you pick which set of family members you lose in exchange for making me come out here and do all this work myself."

Kiyoshi remains still at the bottom of the stairs, glaring at the foolish human before him. He knew that everything that crossed his eldest daughter's path was meant to be a lesson. It was for this reason that he had allowed the bad luck kami's teapot to be housed on his shrine. He would have turned it away had he been given a choice in the matter, but by the time he knew what was going on, it had already latched onto Dekuyume. _Somehow he had known instinctively that sending it away immediately it would have only made things worse. Now he knew why._ The yakuza had been serving tea to his enemies with the pot, bad luck was an untraceable poison for which there was no cure.

 _What was he going to do..._ He loved Kānēshon above all things, his children and his kannushi falling in close behind.

Dekuyume could see the struggle in his eyes. _It was heartwarming to know that she had found a place in his heart along with the others._ It appeared that she was going to have to make the decision for him. _It may not make things easier, but at least it would spare him some of the guilt._

From within the grasp of the brute holding her Dekuyume takes a deep breath and clapping her hands together twice and tries to bow. There are rough, gritty chuckles as the men around them laugh cruelly. "Stupid girl, your kami can't save you now." Across from them, standing on the last step to the shrine Kiyoshi flinches, _he was not strong enough to save them all, and it made his heart ache_. _What was he going to do?_ To buy some time he summons the teapot from its display in the shrine grounds above. It floats through the air down to him.

His answer comes in the form of a prayer, and a soul who hadn't prayed to a god in over a million lifetimes; it tingles as it presses into him nearly tangible in its intensity. (( _Kiyoshi no kami-sama this Dekuyume prays that you save_ _her_ _and Okaasan. They are precious, and their lights cannot be allowed to be extinguished…. It probably won't even hurt this time when those bastards reprocess my soul.))_

From where she is held tightly in a heavily pregnant Kānēshon's protective arms, Kagome shouts, "Leave my ne-san alone you big meanies!" Dekuyume smiles sadly as she completes her prayer, (( _Otousan, my wish on the Shikon has already been granted. I have her heart now; even if I die here, no one will ever take my place. Who knows? I may even get another part of it as a younger sibling if you permit it.))_

Kiyoshi's eyes turn to his eldest daughter. He stares in silence for a moment, as if judging her sincerity. Her will shines fiercely from her eyes. (( _Kiyoshi no kami-sama this Dekuyume prays that you save her most precious people from the consequences of her actions. Dying is easy, it is only when we survive the things that we would rather die from that we truly suffer… And throw out that teapot, clearly it is full of bad luck.))_ His eyes close and he takes a deep breath.

Deep in his heart he prays back, hoping it reaches the soul that he had held closer to him than any other, (( _This Kiyoshi no kami prays that you find the strength to save yourself, because I am not strong enough to survive the loss of_ _any_ _of my children_.))

Their leader, whom has yet to give his name, and has thus been dubbed: the bastard, by Kagome no kami is clearly no longer amused if the expression on his face is anything to go by. High on power he taunts the kami before him, "Well you pathetic excuse for a kami, who's it going to be. I could just kill all of them for you since you don't seem to care about either set." Kiyoshi is silent, simply glaring at him in stony fury, well aware that this isn't about the teapot anymore. Giving it to him wouldn't change anything. He looks into his wife's pleading teary eyes. His resolve is firm.

 _He would not forsake any of them. Not again, Not ever again._

Dekuyume, realizing he had received her prayer, simply closes her eyes and stands there peacefully. _It wouldn't be too bad. Death by gunshot would be an easy death; she would take it over dying from leprosy any day. She had seen enough of that horror in the past, she had no desire to experience it firsthand._

With her eyes closed she misses as the bastard's face twists in a sneer of fury as he finally spots the police officers that had been sneaking up on them. He slashes his arm through the air. Kagome no kami realizes that it must have been a signal of some sort, because it was their only warning before the gunshots rang out.

For a moment Dekuyume is stunned, only aware of the wordless screaming from Kānēshon. Her heart trembles for a moment before she hears Kagome start crying for her father to get up as the police arrest the yakuza. _She can go easy now, knowing the two of them were safe, even if it took the death of a kami and a yōkai-souled human do it… But there was no pain… if she had been shot, shouldn't she be in pain?_

Her eyes snap open as she realizes she is pinned to the ground under a heavy weight, _there was someone on their back pressing her into the pavement._ She wriggles out and checks herself over. She was unharmed, _but how?_ Her eyes travel to the body that had shielded her.

Her eyes widen deep and scarlet, completely stunned.

 _The kannushi had saved her._

 _Why? He had made it clear he hated her for what she was. So why had he saved her? Why was it that every time she thought she had these people figured out, they did something that completely turned her world around? First it was her mother, who proved that it wasn't only_ _her_ _that could be kind. Then it was her father who proved that a kami could care about the living beyond how their souls were growing._ She glances over to where he is on the pavement, gaping humans clustered around him as he lay shivering in the throes of a schism. _Right now he was enduring the pain of being rent from his domain, all because he cared so much about a soul, he chose to die to see her live, knowing very well that it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things._

Turing back to the kannushi, she sinks to her knees, and with gentle hands and a fist full of the spell ingredients she kept on herself just in case of emergencies, begins sealing up the worst of it. _The humans had seen him shot, it wouldn't do to have him escape unscathed, but she could do enough to make sure he didn't bleed out before the paramedics got there._ He winces and his eyes open, tired and pained. Their eyes meet, and she asks the most important question she will ever ask, one that would lead her to the force that would move her for the rest of eternity. "Why?"

He harrumphs, a grumpy old man to the end. "You're my granddaughter. Family is precious, and our children are sacred; we must always protect them… even if they _are_ demons." She bows her head, "I… I must see if there is anything I can do for Otousan." The old man huffs and closes his eyes, willing himself through the pain.

Dekuyume rushes over to the rest of her family, kneeling next to her father's head, she examines him as best she can with her magic. She frowns in frustration, _herbs just weren't meant for what she needed._ Kānēshon, tearstained and hopeful asks Dekuyume, "Is there is anything we can do for him?" Dekuyume puts her spell ingredients away, replaying in a toneless sort of voice that leaves Kānēshon wondering if her daughter is in shock. _Surely Deku-chan didn't think that her father had rejected her. Did she?_

"There isn't anything we can do for him. He is a kami; any damage to his body is meaningless. The real reason he's so badly hurt right now is because he forcibly disconnected himself from his domain to reach you in time to turn the gun away. Not even getting him back on the shrine grounds will help."

Kānēshon throws her head back in a long agonizing wail, Kagome, not understanding much more than the fact that her father is dying begins to cry too. Kagome no kami, hidden from everyone's view winces as she feels the tug on her domain. The tiny sliver she had bequeathed to her father once upon a time funnels power into Kiyoshi and is left as the single support as he struggles to maintain his power of existence. Had she not done so, he would have faded out of existence before his foot had touched the ground outside of the shrine.

Dekuyume reaches out and slides the tips of her fingers gently down the side of her father's face from hairline to chin. There is a strange emotion in her heart, and suddenly she understands something she had always found silly and foolish in others who had opposed her before, adamant in their refusal of their fate. _Those people had fought knowing they would lose, because loosing without fighting only made the sorrow deeper._

It's the strength in her eldest daughter's voice that shakes Kānēshon from her grief. " **Kaasan.** " Kānēshon wipes her eyes and meets those of her daughters. _Her eyes were so fiercely determined that her heart couldn't help but fill with hope in response. She looked so much like her father in that moment._ Dekuyume meets her little sister's eyes with the same intensity. "Kagome. Let us pray to _The Sacred Tree_ and ask that it consider Kiyoshi no kami-ja-nai as its primary operator."

They are still kneeling there as the sirens for the paramedics reach their ears. Kiyoshi no kami of _The Sacred Tree_ opens his eyes slowly. _.._ Kānēshon and his children are gathered around him praying. _These mortals really were his saving grace now weren't they?_ With a trembling hand he reaches up and caresses the side of his beloved's face. She gasps with surprise and her eyes are filled with tears and joy while she grasps his hand. And then he notices the sorrow hidden behind her smile, _why was she sad?_

Realization comes slowly, but cannot be escaped for long. _His armor was back even though he was safely cocooned in his fake mortal form and… he was flickering rapidly._ They had acted fast enough to reconnect him to his ship, but… the domain no longer had enough power to keep him alive. _There was a chance… only a small one, but he had to try… He hadn't had enough time with her yet. Not that there was any amount of time that could ever be considered enough._ He summons up the strength to speak.

"Will you answer this kami's prayers beloved mortal? Will you allow me to stay with you always?"

Tears stream down her face as she grips his hand tightly. Her voice trembles under the strain of her grief, "Always Kiyoshi. Always." Kānēshon feels her unborn son kick her in the ribs and then suddenly Kiyoshi was no longer a man, only light. The kami light spirals through the air in a dizzying display before collecting together in the form of a small pulsating sphere hovering in the air in front of her heart.

She opens her arms gladly. And then there was a kami sleeping in her heart. She didn't know when he would wake up, or if he ever would at all… _but she would never, ever have to let him go._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome no kami wipes the tears from her eyes as she leans against the rim of the well on the mortal plain. _That had been the most amazing thing she had ever seen._ That was saying something considering that her tendency to hop through time haphazardly had a habit of dropping her off in some of the most amazing places the multi-verse had to offer.

She smiles brilliantly, _once more unto the breach!_ And then she was gone like the Ouroboros' tail, swallowed up by time.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The paramedics took one wounded man to the hospital, and officers could only scratch their heads in confusion. _There had been two shot, hadn't there? Shot? That was silly, there had been a car accident._ Out of breath, trembling against the torri for the shrine, Dekuyume eyes the burn on her palm. _She had put a little too much magic into that last spell. The herbs had caught fire, but she hadn't dared let go until the spell had finished._ No one would remember the Yakuza had attacked a shrine family, only that they had run down an old man and his son as they fled from police…


	34. Miko

Chapter 33: Miko

"Sincerity: the quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy. With sincerity, there is virtue. Sincerity is the mother of knowledge and a witness to truth. Sincerity is the single virtue that binds the divine and man in one. And it is with a single sincere prayer that a man can move the heavens. To do good is to be pure. To commit evil is to be impure. Our eyes might see un-cleanliness, but let not our minds see un-cleanliness. Our ears might hear un-cleanliness, but let not our minds hear un-cleanliness."

Dekuyume sighs and turns away from the eulogy, no doubt her heart would have been filled with more than boredom had she not known that her father was resting inside her mother's heart. She moves through the crowd of people gathered for Kiyoshi's funeral on sure feet, the leprosy that had bothered her enough to see Ryūken just days before was completely gone. It had disappeared like the morning dew once she had handed the teapot to the strangest kami she had ever met. _She had never heard of a kami by the name of Yaboku before, but he definitely was a kami. Perhaps he was a new one?_ Dekuyume shakes her head, _a_ _Delivery god, with a business card and phone number even.…_

Dekuyume is motionless for a moment, _that… that was_ _her_. Dekuyume quickly rushes over to the well house and moves inside. It appears empty, but even if Kagome was a kami and Dekuyume was a human with a demonic soul, _she could still sense_ _her_ _soul, they had remained in contact for so long now that she doubted it would ever go away._ "So, you saw me huh?" Dekuyume looks up at her, noticing the small movement that showed that the kami was startled by Dekuyume's sudden appearance. _More proof that the sensation went only one way, it hurt a little._

Dekuyume bows, "Yes, kami-sama. I see you." Kagome no kami sighs as she leans against the rim of the well. "I suppose you want answers." Dekuyume shakes her head negatively, "No, I've got it pretty much figured out. Mostly I wanted to see you, and make a request, if you are willing to listen to one from me given our past."

Kagome no kami tilts her head to the side considering. _At least the third reincarnation had lost that creepy staring problem._ "I'm listening." Dekuyume takes a step back, claps twice and bows, "I pray to the kami Kagome of time travelers and _The Well of Time_ and ask that she grant me a boon." She rises from her bow to meet Kagome no kami's eyes. "Make me your miko."

Naturally, Kagome is stunned. Dekuyume continues on, listing her reasoning. "I have no means of using my magic directly. I have been able to get by using herbs and chants, but this fiasco has proven that they are not enough. When it comes time to go into the past… my illnesses will make the journey difficult enough, I do not wish to be useless in combat as well. Also, having a trained miko along to teach your other self about her powers would…"

"Ok." Dekuyume's eyes widen in surprise _, had it been so easy to convince her?_ _She had at least five minutes of explanations ready for the first kami that she managed to corner. She had planned on it being Koenma, the kami of the dead who sometimes visited the shrine to speak with her father. But it was so much better that it was_ _her_ _._ Kagome no kami scratches the back of her head, "Problem is I don't really know how to make you one…" Dekuyume shakes her head, "It is my understanding that all the magic that comes with being a kami is instinctual, have you ever seen another kami adding or removing someone from their domain?"

Kagome no kami nods enthusiastically, before pausing, "You… you do know this doesn't mean anything right?" Dekuyume looks at her with a blank expression. _Just what was_ _she_ _talking about. Of course it meant something, otherwise there would be no point in doing it now would there._ Kagome no kami continues, "I intend to get back to my soul mate after I see this through." _Ah! So that's what_ _she_ _meant._

Dekuyume smiles, "Yes I rather imagine that you would have to wait for the adventure to be over before meeting up with Hōjō-kun, it seems that you like extremes. First he was a half-feral dog boy, and now he's a disturbingly perfect gentleman." Kagome no kami blushes, and she almost yells out that infamous command, but she refrains, knowing how silly she would look trying to use it on the third reincarnation. Kagome considers her for a moment before stepping forward and placing her hand on the crown of the third reincarnation's head. "I claim this soul as my miko." There is a small flash of light as a spark of power jumps out of the well and embeds itself in Dekuyume's soul matrix.

Dekuyume waits a moment for the feeling to settle before calling her magic to her hands. It felt slightly different, which was to be expected. Slowly, she flexes and bends the power into the form of a magic bow and arrow, before drawing back and firing at the wall. Kagome no kami frowns. For such a technique that was above even Kagome's abilities as a miko, and given the size of the third reincarnations soul _… it was weak._

Dekuyume nods her head affirmatively, "About what I expected." Spotting the frown on her kami's face she explains, "You may have just given me the ability to use my magic directly but, no matter how strong my affinity to you as a person is… My soul identifiers are still yōkai; I am ill suited to being a miko. So I can only call on enough power to fill a teacup before exhaustion sets in." Dekuyume shrugs, " It must seem pathetic in comparison to the oceans of power you had at your disposal, but I assure you it will be more than enough. While I may never gain the ability to use more at any given time, I can still smooth calling it out. It's very rough at the moment, but that's fine. It will be… nice, to have something to work on with Sofu. He may have no magic himself but he knows the traditions well."

Inwardly Kagome no kami pouts. _It looked pretty damn smooth to me, I certainly never managed to do that when I was a miko_. There is a shout from Dekuyume's little sister as she bursts into the well house, and she is distracted by Kagome's antics for a moment, but not distracted enough to miss Kagome no Kami's departure down the well. _That was fine. She would be back. Her soul mate was here after all._


	35. Kitsune

Chapter 34: Kitsune

Dekuyume stood primly outside the gates to Kagome's school, waiting for her to get off. It had been three years since their little brother's birth. _It had been interesting to say the least._ His name was Sōta, and Dekuyume was pleased to note that she was getting along with him as well as she got along with the rest of her family. _It was amazing how quickly the number of people she cared for had grown. Just a few days after the incident, she had asked the kannushi to train her, he had told her to call him Sofu, and he had been such ever since._

Dekuyume glances down the street with a small smile, ignoring the way passersby stare at her. She wore her miko garb with pride, _the humans walking by thought her traditional and quaint, they would never know that she wore them because_ _ **she meant it.**_ She shakes her head in exasperation; there was a tuft of jet black hair and the edge of a school uniform sticking out from an oddly placed mailbox down the street, _Kagome no kami wasn't as good at hiding as her human self, not that it would do any good to hide from her miko._

She feels her imouto walking through the gates of the school. Kagome spots her sister and waves to her friends before the two of them are on their way back home. No one watching would ever know that Dekuyume was currently suffering from severe eczema on her feet, which left every step feeling as if she were walking through flames. _But that was fine. She had lived with severe illnesses and diseases for 15 years now, she had enough poise by now to keep the symptoms hidden._

She smiles down at her little sister. "So, what was your essay about today imouto?" Kagome grins back, reaching up for her sister's hand, swinging their hands between the two of them cheerfully. "It was about what we want to be when we grow up!" While they wait at a light for the pedestrian sign Dekuyume asks, "Oh? And what do you want to be?" Kagome grins, "I want to be just like Neesan!" Kagome beams at her innocently, unknowing of the shock stirring chaos in her sister's heart.

Dekuyume almost misses the light change, only the flow of other people around them drives her into motion. "What? Why me? Don't you want to be more like Okaasan and be so amazing a kami falls in love with you?" They make it to the other side of the street, before Kagome looks around in a childish display of suspicion and drags her sister over to the shade of a tree, before beckoning her sister down. Kneeling, Dekuyume leans in and Kagome whispers in her ear "I can see it you know. Sometimes when you shoot the arrows they **glow** _. I want to be a magical girl too!"_ Dekuyume is speechless as she looks up and meets Kagome no kami's eyes where she squats next to the mailbox across the street. Kagome no kami smiles encouragingly at the dumbfounded third reincarnation. It is a simple matter for Dekuyume to read the kami's lips as she speaks. _"I want to be like you, because when I look back, I see how far you have come, and I think you're the strongest of all of us."_

The turning of the world goes unnoticed as the third reincarnation falls to her knees and pulls her little sister into a hug. _And then, finally at peace, she weeps, shedding a lifetime's worth of sorrow._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The situation was tense. Only a single thing lay between defeat and victory. There would be no second chances, and no amount of skill would save her now, only chance. A voice speaks in the silence. "B32" Two voices ring out immediately after "BINGO!" Those who are not spiritually aware hear only an old woman, but one or two in the crowd of gathered humans are just sensitive enough to hear the soul Ferrier that had been watching the affair from her assigned position on _The Sacred Tree._ Botan claps happily, _one day, one day she wanted to go down there and play that game with them!_ With a sigh she leans back in the seat she had curled up in to watch the show.

 _Her lazy days would be over soon, it was only a few more years then The Well of Time would open it's time portal and everything would begin… or was it that everything would end? I wonder if Yama-sama will ever remember that I was stationed in The Sacred Tree starting from its landing outside of Edo, and until 8 years from now… Botan smiles goofily to herself. It has certainly been an adventure: from the moment I walked into his office, a freshly dead soul and had the kami of the dead speak to me as if I were an old friend, never realizing that to him_ _ **I was.**_

Botan sits up in her chair, and grabs her bowl of popcorn as they set up for another round of bingo. _It wasn't such a surprise that he had forgotten. If the Kami of time travelers couldn't keep everything straight, how could anyone else?_ She drops her bowl of popcorn onto the floor as she spots a very young, very old, friend reluctantly entering the shrine grounds with his mother. _He was so adorable!_

Outside _The Sacred Tree_ , on the mortal plain Yoko Kurama walked behind the human woman that had birthed his Para-incarnation. _It was upsetting that she had brought him here._ _In another time, this would have spelled his doom, but there were no holy people of merit left in the human realm. Their powers had died a swift death when the yōkai had migrated to the demon realm._ Shiori smiles at her son, "Why don't you go play with the other children Suichi."

He looks at her disparagingly before going to stand with the human brats, _normally he would have ignored her, but he wanted to leave as soon as possible._ He sneers at the teenager in miko garb, and inwardly seethes as she raises a single amused eyebrow at him. The air here felt strange, as if there was a barrier surrounding the shrine, and normally that would have been enough to give him pause, _but surely that was his imagination and not a sign of just how much he had to recover. He had every intention of using the fox tail lilies he had trapped a bit of fox magic in the moment his spirit was strong enough, thus Becoming himself once more. He hated the ridiculous human name he was forced to respond to, really who would choose Minamino Suichi over Yoko Kurama?_

Shiori watches her son go to stand with the other children. With a heavy heart she watches as he stands among them… _but so very far apart._ "You seem troubled, can I help you?" Shiori turns with a start only to realize that the one who spoke was the one she had come here to seek advice from. "Higurashi-san. I…" _Why? Why was this so difficult?_ Kānēshon smiles gently at the distraught woman before her.

Shortly after Kiyoshi had gone to rest in her heart, Dekuyume had explained the intimate details of what had led up to the tragedy. She had apologized for placing the barrier that protected the shrine without informing anyone. _It was easily forgiven; after all, no one had done anything they wouldn't have done otherwise._ With the knowledge came an unusual sensitivity. Now, whenever someone entered the shrine grounds needing help, one member of the family would feel a tug at their heartstrings. _And this woman called out so strongly to that she had thought for a moment that her shirt had gotten caught on something._

Kānēshon gestures to a more secluded spot, "We can get a little more privacy over there if that will help. My eldest daughter is watching the children from the shade of the sacred tree; your son will be perfectly fine." Warmed by the kindness shown to her by a complete stranger Shiori broke down, spilling the fear and the sorrow that she had been drowning in. It all came out in a rush, but the shrine keeper's wife took it all in with an easy patience that soothed Shiori. _And how could she not when their stories were so similar?_ Shiori's husband had died not long after her son was born. At only three years old, the same age as Sōta, Suichi was as cold as Dekuyume had been at her worst...

Kānēshon comforts the distraught woman as best she can, offering what advice she could. _But there was only so much that she could say before she sounded like she believed in the supernatural a little_ _too_ _well._ A while later Shiori goes, and Kānēshon can only hope things eventually work out for the two of them. She watches the people move around the shrine for a few minutes before going inside to prepare lunch. _I wonder how many of these people would still come to the shrine if Deku-chan hadn't cast some sort of magic that changed everyone's memories of what happened. I can't imagine that Shiori-san would have chosen to speak with me if everyone knew that it had been Yakuza and not a car accident…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume smiles at her siblings, _they were rather sweet like this…_ Though they would eventually loose Sōta to soccer or videogames after an hour or two, every weekend Dekuyume sat down with the two of them and showed them a little bit about how to use their magic. _It had been disturbingly easy to loosen the binding that the Shikon had put on Kagome-chan, releasing her powers a little at a time. By the time the well opened Kagome would have most, if not all of her power at her disposal, and she would be familiar enough with it that it responded to her will and not just her heart._ Sōta held little power of his own, but his soul was large enough that he had managed the simple glow light can-trip. She had been startled at first when he managed it, but considering how strong his fear of the dark was… _she was glad she had given him a weapon to fight his fears._

"Before Kagome-chan and I start practicing our archery, I have something to say. I heard the two of you talking after Sofu told you about the legend of the fox wife. I have to say I'm disappointed in the way you made fun of him when you thought he couldn't hear you. He did and you hurt his feelings, not that he will ever let you know that you did. The stories Sofu tells are important, not because they tell us that yōkai exist, but because they tell us that they can be beaten... They can all be beaten, even the ones that hide inside us, so deep in our hearts, that no one else can see them. We defeat them with kindness and sincerity, but we have to be careful." She feels her heart warm as the two of them lean in closer in excitement after having looked so dejected at her chastisement. "Kindness is a human weapon, the most powerful weapon, truth be told; so powerful that if you aren't careful, it will cut you more deeply than those you use it on."

Dekuyume sighs, closing her eyes as she remembers old lifetimes where she had tried so hard to be like _her_ only to fail miserably and die shortly after. _If only I had known then what I do now…_ She smiles sadly at her siblings, "If you expect the world to be kind to you because you are kind, you are fooling yourself. That's like expecting the lion not to eat you because you did not eat him. That said, you should always be kind first, because you can always be mean later. But once you have been mean to someone they won't believe you if you are kind afterwards, not even if you really mean it." _So always be kind… until it's time to stop being kind; then destroy them, because once you have shown them your cruelty they wouldn't ever_ _let_ _you be kind to them again… not that you two will ever have to worry about that._

Dekuyume reaches out and ruffles their hair, the signal that Sōta was waiting for. As he rushes off to go play Dekuyume hands her imouto a bow. _I will see to it that neither of you ever have to learn how to be cruel, even if that means I must defeat all your enemies myself._

As her first arrow strikes true, Dekuyume smiles wryly, _even if the first enemy to be defeated_ _is_ _myself._


	36. Fire and Ice

Chapter 35: Fire and Ice

Three days before Kagome's 15th birthday.

 _There was a yōkai in that tree._ Kagome stared with fierce intensity at the tree in the park across from where she was sitting with her friends. They were hanging out after school, and had taken a stop at Wacdonalds before heading their separate ways for the day. _Whoever he was, he was_ _fast_ _, one second she had felt his disjointed fire and ice magic moving along the rooftops a mile away, and the next second he was hidden within the foliage of the tree._

Her three friends sigh as they spot their friend staring again. She didn't do it very often, but when she did, no one could get her attention. They leave without saying goodbye. Kagome grins to herself as her eyes finally spot him. _How on earth did he get his hair to stand up like that?_ She makes her way out of the restaurant and after crossing the street, comes to the foot of the tree he remains hidden in. Quietly, so that the few people scattered around the park don't get suspicious, she asks, "So, what brings you to the human world?"

In the tree Hiei stares down at the human girl who had so easily seen him. _The Jagan must have taken more from him than he thought… Then again perhaps it was just because this Kagome-san was the Kagome-san who had been raised by Dekuyume-Neesan, and after that there wasn't much of a surprise to it…._ "Visiting." Kagome grins when she gets a normal response, even if it is a short one. _So many yōkai she spoke to started off with "Eek! It's a real Miko!" that it was kind of sad…_ "Anyone I know?" Hiei sighs. "You, though you haven't met me yet." He disappears in a blur of speed that she only barely manages to trace with her magic. Kagome frowns, _what was that supposed to mean?_ With a sigh she gets up and heads home. Today was Dekuyume's turn to pick Sōta up from school. _Maybe she would have an idea._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume eyes the squealing elementary school girls with a wary eye. _Weren't they a little young to be so blatantly fan-girl?_ A ten year old boy with cherry red hair walks by on his way home and the crowd of girls slowly floats along behind him. Dekuyume watches the parade with mild amusement. _Poor fox spirit, teasing the humans isn't as much fun when you can't run away afterwards is it?_

"Please, by all that his sacred and pure, tell me you aren't crushing on him too!" Startled, Dekuyume looks down to see her brother Sōta pouting. Dekuyume chuckles and leans down to whisper in his ear, "Your classmate is a fox spirit. Don't be too hard on him, he can't really help it." Sōta stares up at his sister in surprise, well aware of how very real the supernatural world was. _She was amazing, not only did Deku-Neesan help the humans that came to the shrine with cleverly disguised spells and hard won insight, but she helped spirits too, when they managed to make it onto the shrine grounds._ He didn't have a lot of magic like Kagome-neechan, or the patience to make it work as well as Dekuyume-neesan, _but he was sensitive enough to see the world as it was, and that included seeing Minamino-san's hair as red, instead of the black that everyone else did._

Dekuyume ruffles his hair, "Let's go home, I still need to get a present for Kagome-chan's birthday." As they leave, Sōta walks a little straighter, well aware of the eyes that follow his sister wherever she goes. _Sometimes they were kind, and sometimes they weren't, but they never saw her for what she was, the burdens she carried, or the obstacles she had overcome._ _He probably wouldn't ever be strong enough to help her fight her battles, some of the most difficult ones on her path, she had won before he had ever been born…_

 _But he could be strong enough to help protect her heart, and he wouldn't ever let her down._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sighs as she walks into the next shop. It wasn't just any birthday she was shopping for a present for, she was looking for a present for Kagome's _15_ _th_ birthday, and having difficulties. _The well would be opening soon… it would be rude to get a present that she wouldn't be able to use, and it would give too many secrets away if she got something too useful. Truthfully everything that needed to be given had been given years ago; the training, the courage, her powers fully under her command…_

She pauses in her steps, eyes straight forward, wide open in shock. Slowly, she turns her head to look at the display next to her. With a trembling hand she reaches out and picks up the items that were on display. They were the leftovers from the start of the school year. On sale, was a supersized yellow backpack, and a red leather journal with a knick in the corner, Dekuyume had many memories of Kagome running around the feudal era with that yellow monstrosity, _and she would never, ever forget that red journal…_

With hands she pretends aren't shaking she takes her purchases to the register. _It was time…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Kagome-chan is going to come down with something that necessitates her being homeschooled. What precisely that is, is up to you. Okaasan will bring you the paperwork when it's time." Ryūken looks down at his most exasperating patient, _she had been in his care for two decades, and never ceased to surprise him._ "Is that so?" _It was amazing how much she had changed from the beginning. She was such a strong, driven woman now._ Dekuyume nods, a wry smile on her face, "Yes, you didn't think I really wanted to be a teacher did you?" _Indeed when he had heard that she had sought a teaching degree at such a young age he had been surprised._ "You have known that something has been coming for years, and now that it's finally here you're tying up a few last ends before setting out. Do you intend to return, or should I prepare your death paperwork as well."

He finds her laugh reassuring, and the impish smile she shoots him afterwards, even more so. "Don't worry; you will not be deprived of your favorite Go opponent." He watches as plans un-hatched and unspoken drift across her face as it becomes serious. _She was an unusually complex girl, she always had been. He still didn't know if her illnesses were the cause of her complexity, or a consequence._ She meets his eyes squarely, and he knows she is judging him for something, _but what?_ After a moment she looks down and pulls a slip of paper out of her satchel, and begins writing something, and drawing a diagram of some sort. She speaks, "We will be taking the long way home in the end, so you should find me to be a much more difficult opponent upon my return. ...I will have nearly 500 years worth of practice, though whether that practices is of any merit remains to be seen. …I wonder what I would have to do to tempt Sesshōmaru-san into a few matches."

She finishes her writing, and rises from her seat. _It was amazing how she could make the movement seem so natural and smooth. He had just finished removing 12 Guinea Worms from her feet._ He is shaken from his thoughts by the expression on her face. _If she ever became a hollow she would be a creature of cunning, a serpent, a spider, or a fox._ He glances down at the paper she hands him on her way out.

Ryūken looks up from the slip of paper. From the window he spots her as she moves from the hospital grounds to the sidewalk to begin her trek home. Her miko garb was easily spotted even from his position on the 4th floor. _He must have stood there in shock for quite some time, for her to have gotten so far._ He leaves the examination room and heads down to a secret room buried deep underneath his hospital.

 _The past was never easily forgotten, no matter how deeply the bones were buried._

He takes out the paper and stares at it once more. _He hadn't been sure what to make of the girl when they first met._ His Quincy sensitivity to the abnormal had warned him of her long before the shrine keepers had ever made it to the reception area of his hospital. At first he had thought that she was possessed by a hollow, and only upon closer examination had he realized that she was something else entirely; something that he had thought existed only in the tattered scrolls of his distained heritage.

The mother had tried to spin a tail, but she wasn't a very good liar. He had almost turned them away then, but the girl had spoken of horrors no doctor ever wanted their patients to experience in a quiet voice. He could tell the moment the mother decided to tell the truth, and while he was a little skeptical, he knew enough about the shinigami to figure out how other kami must operate. _And so, he had helped them, far more than he would have otherwise._

 _To think, that in the end he would be repaid like this…_ The note contained a spell, a simple way to manipulate spirit energy at first glance, but far more complicated in practice. It would require more control than he had at the moment; otherwise he would be overwhelmed with information. _If he had the ability to sense what was wrong with a person's health with just a touch…_ He looks around the room with a calculating eye before he begins his work. _He would never have to lose his son the way he lost Kanae…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kānēshon was worried. Dekuyume was acting strangely again, and had been for the last three days _. It would be Kagome-chan's 15_ _th_ _birthday tomorrow, and she had a terrible feeling that fate was upon them._ She looks up from her cooking as the object of her thoughts enters the kitchen. Dekuyume says nothing, but then, she doesn't have to. _The two red leather journals in her hands say more than enough._ Dekuyume sets the oldest one on the kitchen table. "I know you've been curious about this ever since it appeared, and I also know that you have been polite enough to never read it."

Dekuyume leaves the journal on the table and goes over to hug her mother. "It's time you did, and you should share it with Sofu and Otouto as well. When it happens, I made some arrangements with Ryūken-san, and the paperwork you will need is in the back." Kānēshon looks at her daughter with worry, "Deku-chan?" The smile on her daughter's face is reassuring. "Just read it. I suggest you start with Botan-chan, it's the easiest place to start I'm told. Personally I started with Yama-san but… I always did like solving a good mystery." She shrugs and leaves the room after that, off to go pack up her teaching supplies.

Slowly Kānēshon finishes cooking and opens the journal to the first page. She is greeted by pressed flowers: lavender paired with edelweiss, then morning glory, and lastly white camellia paired with azalea. _First: Faithful Courage then a willful promise followed by Patient Waiting…_ She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She holds the journal close to her chest for a moment, _in the end, this may very well prove to be the hardest thing she would ever do._

She opens the journal to the next page. With a puzzled frown she scans the table of contents; there were several chapters all named the same thing, _The Beginning_. With a sigh she flips to the middle of the journal and a chapter titled: Botan-chan : the beginning, or The Peony's Knot.


	37. The Peony's knot

Chapter 36: The Peony's Knot

Boton's perspective of time.

 _I always thought that I lived a fairytale life. Sure my human life hadn't been much of anything to speak about, but Enma-daiō made me a ferry girl the moment I stepped into his office so very long ago. We had so many good times… but now they're over, just like my fairytale._ Botan stood in the ruined remains of The Well of Time. The Shikon no kami was out at the moment, off answering to the summons sent by _The Assembly._ It was just her here, she was surprised that she had been allowed on board, but nothing had turned her away or even barred her path, _perhaps a leftover of her brief assignment to The Sacred Tree?_

 _She had to see it, this ship that took her everything away._

Her hands grip tightly around the rim of the time portal, her eyes widen in surprise and shock as she looks down the well. _The.. the portal was still open!_ Without a second thought to her safety, or the reason why the portal would still be open causing the ship to use power it would have been better off using to repair itself; she jumps down the well.

A specter of broken dreams, patchwork soul, and forced servitude slides a few switches down their sliders, completely closing the time portal. _It knew so little about The Well of Time… there was no telling when the Ferrier had gone; perhaps it should take the time to learn more?_ There is a commotion at one of the entrances to the room, and as a massive kami pushes debris out of the way he stares in shock for a moment before shouting, "You!" The specter sighs, _yes me. It isn't like there is anyone else the Shikon would choose to become her vessel, The Eternal Battlefield, once the jewel proved too flimsy._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _It hurt. Surely time travel wasn't meant to hurt?_ It had not been an easy trip, the motes of time had swirled chaotically around her as she was swept along the time stream. Most had moved around her, but others? They had cut her as she passed them, and some of them had passed through her. She might have given up if she had not been able to see her exit up ahead, a single steady light open and waiting. _And so she struggled on, desperate for a miracle_.

Dekuyume looks up from her packing with a frown, absently brushing her long black braid of hair over her shoulder as her eyes flare red. _The barrier tells me I have someone to help. But who would be here at the shrine at this time of night?_ She is cautious as the sensation leads her to the well, and more so when she sees the crumpled form of the blue haired soul ferry girl who kept _The Sacred Tree_ clean for her father while he was asleep. After checking that the time portal was closed, she jumps down the well, landing softly on a cushion of magic.

She performs the hurt seeking spell on the soul ferry girl. Dekuyume had created it some time ago in response to her illnesses, and had been pleased when she found reason to share it with her favorite doctor. Judging her safe to move, she uses her obi to make a sling for the unconscious woman, before using her magic to stick to the walls of the well, crawling out. She takes a moment to plaster sutras over the lid to the well. _They weren't very powerful, but they were very, very accurate. Nothing but a centipede or a miko would pass through them without her permission._

She works on healing the soul Ferrier long into the night, pausing only when she hears her brother shout in the early morning light, "Anesan! Okaasan! Sofu! A naked yōkai lady just pulled Kagome-neesan down the well!" _Kagome-chan was far stronger now than what she had been even at the end of her journey where she stood firm and resolute against Naraku. She would be fine. She had to be._

It took nearly a full day to finish healing the blue haired woman, and only a moment to grab her and Kagome's packed bags. She pauses for a brief moment in the well house to check over the sutras lining the walls and affix a rope ladder. Her planning days earlier speeds up the process, two nails were already hammered into the well, hidden from view on the opposite side of the doorway. She carefully hoists the two bags over her shoulders and disappears down the well.

Kagome no kami shakes her head in exasperation as she watches the third reincarnation go. She kneels on the floor next to Botan's head. _This was why the Shikon lost. It was not the actions of the kami, or the souls that were bound to it, but because one woman took a leap of faith._ Kagome no kami would wait until Botan awoke, and then she would lead her downstairs and she would sit with her family and explain everything that was to come. _Only the third reincarnation would expect someone to be able to turn the journal, with its disjointed perspectives of space and time, into some semblance of plot._

Kagome no kami would lead Botan and her mortal family to an area of the shrine that had remained hidden away for nearly 500 years; not even Kiyoshi had known if it's presence. Hours later, after many smiles and many, many tears, welcome home hugs, and welcome to the family introductions, they would settle into enjoying the rest of their lives. It would be a quiet secret between the three human members of house Higurashi, kept from the two daughters, if only so time would not break after being so viciously bent. There they would wait for the beginning to end, the middle to be, and plot the rescue of a kami who wasn't a kami yet thus creating the world that allowed Botan to survive to be a part of the plans. A red eyed goddess smiles like a fox at the dumbfounded expression on Botan's face as they are introduced. She bows mildly, "Thank you for making me real.", _the peony knot was an perpetual three loop knot in time, the perfect foundation upon which to stage a coup against the entirety of the celestial ocean._

She waives her poppy painted fan in front of Botan's face, "Ne, c'mon snap out of it." She grins when Botan's eyes focus on her. "Normally this is the point that I start threatening people to make them stay away from my target, but you aren't going to give me any problems are you?" Botan shakes her head no, unable to voice the words moving chaotically through her mind. _How had she never noticed! She was a soul Ferrier! To have so greatly misidentified a soul…_. The goddess grabs Botan's hand and tugs her along behind her as she gives her a tour of her ship, _The Colloquium of Souls. No one else got such nice birthday present's from their Kaasan!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _This was alarming, and not in any of the ways he had become used too..._ Kurama stared into his school locker. Once he had begun schooling with the humans, he had received some strange, unusual and even disturbing things from his classmates… no matter how frosty his behavior toward them had been, they had not stopped, bizarrely some even found him more attractive for it. _I may be a 3000 year old fox spirit, but there was just no excuse for females of any age leaving panties in a 10 year old boy's locker. It had also been getting difficult to use his locker for its intended purpose, when half the school seemed to be using his locker as a mail box._ It had been a bit cruel, even for him, however, telling his mother that he was being anonymously sexually harassed and having her deal with the school had been the most effective way to ensure the behavior's stopped, or at least slowed to the point where he only had to disinfect his locker once a week.

 _But of all the things he had received, this was the most alarming. Not only because of its implications toward his safety, but because… he really, really wanted it… implied obligatory reciprocation or not._ Finding the strength of will needed to restrain himself long enough to surreptitiously use a plant to check for poisons, magical or mundane, he waits with trembling hands. It comes up clear, and with no one around to watch him accept the offering, he snatches the Inari-zushi from its Tupperware, and savors the flavor. _It had been so_ _long_ _since he had received a kitsune-offering, and that was_ _exactly_ _what this was._ He eyes the rest of the contents in the small basket the Inari-zushi had been in, there was a bag of uncooked rice, a naturally lost branch from an unusually powerful mundane tree, and a small note.

Carefully examining the note he snorts, smiling wryly. In a boyish scrawl it said: _I apologize, but traditional kitsune-offering or not, Kaasan has declared that Sake is not an appropriate gift for an elementary school student, no matter how old their soul is. Higurashi Sōta of the Higurashi shrine._

With a grin Kurama puts the rest of the offering into his backpack, and takes the Tupperware out to his favorite tree to finish his lunch period. He nods to the Higurashi boy on the way, spotting him eating and talking about soccer with some of their other classmates. He is impressed by the way that the Higurashi boy manages to return the acknowledgement without giving anything away to the humans focused on him. _As a general rule, humans didn't seem to understand discretion, someone had taught the boy well._ As Kurama takes another of the zushi from the container he contemplates his classmates, and how difficult they would make his life if they saw his willingness to interact with the Higurashi boy and thought he was suddenly willing to befriend them all.

 _It would be a disaster… If being cold and distant was not enough to keep the humans from gracelessly attempting to lure him into a mating was not working, perhaps being immaculately polite would work. Either way, he was doing all paired class projects with the Higurashi boy from now on. If only so he could get more Inari-zushi…_


	38. The Begginning

Chapter 37: The Beginning

Kagome could only stare in horror as she was pulled down the well by the yōkai. In another time, she would have panicked in the face of this strange woman touching her, and released a blast of untrained and bound magic to gain her freedom. This time she was not so lucky, and neither was the centipede yōkai. This time Kagome knew very well what held her captive, and she knew 4 different ways to fight back, but she couldn't because of one small thing, or to be more precise, many small things. The woman was talking, not that Kagome was registering what she was saying, only one thing pressed in on her mind… _legs, thousands of creeping crawling legs. Legs, the legs were all over her, holding her captive. She needed them to let go so she could take a scalding hot bath_ _now._

In the end, the centipede yōkai is forced to release the miko bearing the Shikon no tama in her side, not because of the ocean of power at her disposal, but puke. _Yes, that's right, puke. It was a good thing that Deku-neesan wasn't there to see, she would have been so disappointed that I projectile vomited in a yōkai's face after all the time she spent training me._

Kagome cleaned herself up with the water bottle and handkerchief she kept in her back pack, before sitting up in the well. _It appeared that it was time to end the Shikon, Deku-neesan warned us that we would have to eventually, but I kind of thought that it would wait for me to finish school first at least._ Using some conveniently placed vines growing up the side of the well, she climbs out, staring at the beauty of the grounds that would one day become the shrine. _The Shrine… Otousan! Otousan is in The Sacred Tree! I can see him again!_

She moves through the forest towards _The Sacred Tree,_ its canopy visible above the other trees. She stumbles into the clearing, and dragged into the beginning. Kiyoshi no kami waives his hand, casting the spell that he was asked to perform on the half-yōkai pinned to his tree, and a miko that would arrive through _The Well of Time._ _He didn't really understand why they had changed their plans so drastically last minute, but many of the other kami were much further along in time than he was. It was rather annoying. After this mess was finished he was going to The Assembly to get some answers._

Kagome is taken captive by the spell. As if in a trance she approaches the tree, climbing up its roots and grasping the arrow sealing her soul mate to the tree. He remains in a deep slumber even as the arrow is pulled from his chest. Light's flash, and the wind blows, alerting the villagers in the valley below. They arrive to see a woman in an indecently short foreign kimono giving a man medical attention. She looks up at them and calls the local miko, Kaede over to her. They are all hesitant at first, but eventually decide to take the woman and the half-yōkai turned human, into the village. The first is questioned, and the second is grudgingly given medical attention.

In the depths of the well a skittering of multiple legs is heard.

"How many times do I have to tell you. My clothing is weird to you because I'm from the future! Secondly, I am a miko not a yōkai! Not that there's anything wrong with being a yōkai, Neesan says that most of the problems humans have with them is just cultural differences that wind up really hard to explain when everyone jumps to conclusions and starts fighting." Kagome inwardly face palms as the crowd of feudal era peasants continues their conversation/accusation session. _I'm starting to get really worried that someone is going to do something rash while their miko tends to that boy, I don't even want to know how he managed to survive an arrow through the heart._

"I say that if the sorceress-yōkai can turn hanyō into humans then she can turn humans into yōkai and I won't stand for it! I say we kill her!" As a one the group turns to the miko from the future who gulps at the hostile expression on their faces. A man with a battered sword steps forward and raises the blade above his head. _No… no way. Were they really going to kill her? Just like that?_

She is spared, not by any feelings in the gathered crowd but by the massive body of the centipede yōkai as she attacks the village in her attempt to claim the Shikon no Tama. Kagome is swept from the hut, gripped tightly in her mouth. The villagers that had threatened her, would trouble her no more, crushed underneath the collapsing hut, and the centipedes many legs. Kagome struggles against the ropes they had used to tie her up, but is halted by the searing pain of the centipedes bite. _Please merciful kami of The Sacred Tree don't let her be one of the poisonous kinds!_

Kagome is stunned as the yōkai halts her retreat from the village, only to slam Kagome's tender human body into the ground. Kagome grunts in pain, and lays there motionless for a moment. _At least the ropes are gone._ She sits up slowly and a hand comes up to grip her side and the gaping wound left in it. _The Shikon!_ Her head whips around to look at the yōkai that had attacked her. Her vision blurs and she nearly faints but determination keeps her conscious, but only barely. Kagome carefully keeps her eyes on the upper portion of the woman, focusing on her eerily human features, and not the many legs. _No need for a repeat of earlier… Though, it would be a lot easier if her boobs weren't completely uncovered and jiggling all over the place. Didn't she have any modesty?_

Kagome watches in horror as the bright shining light of the Shikon moves down the yōkai's throat. The woman's body changes colors, pale creamy flesh changing to dark purple with phosphorescent patches. _It would have been interesting to watch if it didn't mean that her fight got a whole lot harder. Deku-neesan said that the more human a yōkai looks the stronger it is in comparison to other yōkai of the same type… Too bad I don't remember how difficult centipedes were in relation to everything else..._ Kagome rises shakily to her feet, and with a calm determination, holds out her hand. The yōkai laughs "Oh? You still think you can fight me? You are nothing against my might! I, Mukade no kimi, who have reigned over these lands as the greatest of all! At least, until that damned miko Kikyō and her disgusting half-breed lover got in my way…"

Mukade lowers herself so that she can pat the human girl, who so kindly brought her the Shikon, on the head with one of her many human arms. _The incident in the well could easily be forgiven, not many people had the ability to appreciate a nice set of legs._ "I hear I have you to thank for rendering him human, his blood will be so delicious as he screams in agony. I suggest you flee for your life now, while I am feeling generous."

Kagome lifts her head up high, brushing off the woman's hands, ignoring the threat, "I won't run, and you won't hurt that boy either, I won't let you." In the shrubbery to the side of the clearing where Kagome stood against the yōkai, a boy with steel grey eyes and long black hair blushes. _No one had ever stood up for him like that before. Just who was this girl? If what she had said to those murderous villagers was true, then why had she made him human? Was it just show?_ He shakes his head rapidly to clear his thoughts, carefully he readies himself. His shoulder was still hurt from where Kikyō had pinned him to the tree 50 years ago. _It was so annoying being human, he had enough of this pathetic sappy weakness on the nights of the new moon, he didn't need it the rest of the time too!_

He rushes into the clearing, the blade he had stolen from a villager raised high above his head. "Raaah! Die wench!" The human blade is ineffectual against the chitin of her exoskeleton and Mukade laughs insultingly before lunging for him. Fortunately for the former inu-hanyō, it is at that point in time that the bow Kagome summoned from the village below reaches her, along with a quiver of arrows. _Yatta!_

Inuyasha shouts, "But out of my fight wench! This is between me and this ugly has-been!" Sensing the power inherent in the miko flair to life, so much stronger than even the miko who felled her before, the woman pauses, considering her options as she dodges the first arrow. _There was so much power in the arrow that even brushing by left scorch marks on her Shikon enhanced skin._ It would be a few weeks before she managed to fully harness the Shikon's immense power. _Time she would not have if she remained here to fight._

Inuyasha attempts to harm the yōkai again, frustrated when his efforts prove futile he heckles Kagome. "Ya missed! Some miko you are!" With a hiss of irritation, the centipede flees. Inuyasha chases after her for a few dozen feet before collapsing to his knee, out of breath and hand gripped tightly to his bleeding shoulder. "Dammit! Get back here!" Mukade ignores him as she seethes. _I will be back you wretched miko! You could have just walked away and I would have let you though your kind is my enemy! Now… now you will suffer in ways your feeble mind can't even comprehend!_

Dekuyume reaches the top of the well just in time to feel the jewel moving rapidly over the hills away from the village. She grits her teeth and adjusting the bow and quiver slung over her shoulder, moves quickly through the forest to where she can sense Kagome. _The centipede would pay the piper later, for now imouto desperately needs healing._ As she brushes past the disturbingly human Inuyasha, she uses the sense hurt spell, just in case. _The kami have been known to royally fuckup before, it wouldn't surprise me if they managed to kill Imouto's soul mate in the attempt to fulfill the wish._ Interestingly enough, she could sense the residue of her father's magic, so much stronger than it had ever been before. _But that isn't much of a surprise considering he has yet to lose all of his territory to other kami._ She is still healing Kagome when the villagers finally make their way to the small clearing.

With cautious steps Kaede walks towards the two miko. _The youngest in the strange clothes was certainly a miko, but the other… such a dark spirit for such a bright calling._ She picks up her bow and quiver from where Kagome had dropped it. "Come, Ye all are welcome to rest in my hut for the night. There be much to speak on in the morning light." Kagome looks uncertain, but Dekuyume clears up her worries. "I left Kaasan my journal… there are some family matters we will have to discuss in private later, but everything can wait until morning."

With a sigh of relaxation Kagome leans into her sister's arms, and drifts off to sleep. With a sigh and an exasperated smile, Dekuyume scoops her sister up, much to the surprise of the feudal era denizens. _They would never know that regardless of what ailment she was currently "learning" from she had done weight training every day, just so that she would be strong enough to carry her sister home at the end of the journey._

Dekuyume raises one eyebrow at the peasants when she catches them staring. "If you would lead the way, my Imouto needs her rest." The procession into the village is quiet, even Inuyasha is silenced under Dekuyume's gaze.


	39. The Morning After

Chapter 38: The Morning After

The morning was peaceful, at least for a moment. "Well Bachan, I don't want to wait for the lazy wenches to wake up!" _But so few things remained peaceful for long against the might of Inuyasha-kun's existence._ Dekuyume muses as she rubs her eyes. Ignoring the boy, she moves over to her sister. Kagome, groggy in the morning, had forgotten her injury and was paying for it. Dekuyume gathers some of her freshly recovered magic, careful to keep anyone but her sister from seeing her eyes, and heals Kagome the rest of the way.

Power was often interchangeable with skill and sadly gaining much of one often left you struggling with the other… _But, I held both once..._

Dekuyume sighs as she finishes. _My the air here was stirring up old memories. Or was the jewel already trying to incite trouble?_

With a soft thump Inuyasha sits cross-legged on the floor at the foot of the strange colorful bedding that the younger wench, Kagome, had used last night. He considers the two miko as carefully as he can. Once they had all arrived at the old miko's hut, the braided hair miko had gently set her unconscious sister on the floor, and said that she was going to fetch her bags. He hadn't been willing to let such a shady wench with a yōkai's strength out of his sight, and had said that there was no way in hell she was going anywhere. _The wench had the audacity to raise an eyebrow at him and laugh!_ He couldn't quite decide how he felt about Kaede and her offer to go with her. Kaede had glared at Inuyasha demanding that he stay and rest, when he demanded to go as well,. _She was so much scarier as an old woman. Where had Kikyō's cute little rug rat of a sister gone?_ _Kikyō…_

Kaede watches the dark miko tend to her sister. After she had made her intentions to go back to the well clear, Kaede had been unwilling to let the woman move around the village without supervision. Fortunately the woman had old woman. One of the villagers had kindly saddled up the Kaede's horse and the dark woman in miko garb had walked alongside as they made their way to the well. On the way there she had asked questions about the woman and her sister, and learned that her name was Dekuyume, _what a strange name;_ and that while she had little to say about responded favorably to being accompanied by an herself, she had much to say about her sister, _all of which was favorable oddly enough, given the opposite nature of their souls she would have thought it would be otherwise._ Dekuyume had retrieved both her traveling bag, and her sister's fully packed birthday present and the two had returned to the village.

Once back at the hut, Dekuyume had knelt next to her sister with the two packs and from within the depths of the unusually yellow pack, Dekuyume had withdrawn a strange colorful bag for her sister. She had then undone a strange clasp and wrapped it around the sleeping miko before reclosing it. Dekuyume had merely smiled as her sister had curled up inside, and leaned against the wall of the hut with a small roll of cloth to protect the arch of her neck, and fallen asleep. _At least until Inuyasha had opened his loud mouth and woken even the birds sleeping in the tree outside._

Idly, Inuyasha pokes the bedding while the two wenches have some small snacks in shiny silver wrappings. _These girls were strange, maybe they really were from the future? Not even the yōkai courtesans he could remember moving through his father's palace had fabric as well woven as what the two had on._

Unnoticed to the group a tiny flea yōkai wiggles through the walls of the hut and observes their conversation from the corner of the room. Impatient, Inuyasha begins, "So if ya don't hate yōkai, why'd ya make me human?" Kagome blinks several times before looking at Dekuyume, at a loss. Dekuyume sighs, "It was the will of the kami; they have set us the task of ending the Shikon no Tama and left us a very specific method for doing so. Fortunately for you, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, this means that you will be left human for the remainder of your life."

He explodes, lunging for Dekuyume. "What the hell! There ain't no way I'm putting up with that! Give me my claws back wench!" Dekuyume ignores the insult, merely using the end of her bow to keep him away, _the boy had been pinned to a tree for 50 years, and had yet to take a bath. Suspended animation or not, he was still filthy._ Kagome however, doesn't let it slide, "That's it! I have had it up to here with your rudeness! I am not a _wench_ and my anesan certainly isn't either _!_ My name is Kagome, and my anesan is called Dekuyume not that you have any right to call her so familiarly. You may call me Higurashi-chan, and her Higurashi-san or you may not call us anything at all!"

Dekuyume has to turn her head away to hide her mirth _. Not so willing to let the dog boy insult you front right and center this time around are you imouto?_ Inuyasha jerks back in surprise, _the oldest wench looked like a proper lady except for her weird strength, but the youngest wench was a yappy, vicious little thing. What a bitch… he kind of liked it. Kikyō was never so straight forward with her opinions…. Kikyō…she tried to kill him..._ Kagome frown's at his suddenly sad demeanor _. She hadn't been that harsh, had she?_ Kaede clears her throat, "Higurashi-chan, ye claim to be from the future. I believe you if only because I sense that ye are the reincarnation of my beloved anesan, Kikyō."

Inuyasha looks up in surprise and stares at Kagome in fierce concentration, but without the sensitive nose of his yōkai blood, he sees just another human female. "Heh." Ignoring him, the old woman continues, "She has been dead some 50 years now, ever since she sealed Inuyasha-kun to the sacred tree, and 50 years is not long enough for a soul like hers to reincarnate. She asked that we cremate her with the Shikon no Tama, the very same jewel that was removed from ye side last night, if I am not mistaken." Kagome nods affirmatively. Dekuyume shakes her head; _this train of thought could not be allowed to continue. It would only be a matter of time before Kagome-chan starts wondering if I had an incarnation running around this era and came to the right conclusions… or the wrong ones. Last thing I need right now is to be mistaken for Inuyasha-kun's reincarnation._

Dekuyume shudders, "Kagome-chan is Kagome-chan, as she does not remember her previous lives, they are inconsequential beyond the fact that she has the ability to see the jewel even if it is inside something or someone else. I am still in the middle of completing her training, a far more extensive matter in the future than here in this era. Unfortunately I was detained, and could not make it here in time to stop the yōkai from making off with the jewel." Dekuyume leans forward, making eye contact with everyone in the hut. "The real issue here is the Shikon; we must not allow the centipede to remain in possession of the jewel for long, every moment she does, brings about a greater chance that she will become impossible to defeat without calling on the aid of the Dai-yōkai and their armies. No one wants to deal with that."

The last thing Myōga hears before turning and fleeing is Inuyasha boasting, and Dekuyume's response. "The wench wouldn't stand a chance if ya would just make me a hanyō again. Course, ya could also make me a yōkai, I wouldn mind guarding your pathetic ass for the rest of your short life if ya did." Kagome glares at him in silence, too angry to speak, Dekuyume speaks for her, "I wouldn't do so, even if I could." Myōga moves through the darkness rapidly, _Sesshōmaru-sama must hear of this. Miko should not be allowed to meddle in the affairs of the House of the West. Inuyasha-sama and may believe the two's tales about being from the future, no doubt with sorcery enough to bind the great Inu-no-taichōs blood, they had magics enough to appear convincing, but he was not fooled._

A few hours after the massive pouting fit that Inuyasha threw in the wake of their refusal, Dekuyume found Kagome sitting at the edge of the river. Dekuyume grits her teeth for a moment before she sits next to her sister. _There were tear tracks on Kagome-chan's face. If the dog was in any way responsible for this, soul mate or not, he would pay,_ _dearly_ _._ Fortunately for Inuyasha, the tears were for another reason entirely. "I saw Otousan… he didn't recognize me… I haven't seen him in so long and it… it hurts for him to be so close and still so far away, you know?" Dekuyume nods in agreement. After a few moments of silence Kagome comments, "It's so beautiful here. It makes you realize just how much damage humans have done to the environment."

Eyes closed, simply enjoying the breeze, Dekuyume agrees, "Yes, even if the general state of human villages leaves much to be desired in comparison to modern amenities." Kagome grimaces, "I know that they can't help it really, since hygiene hasn't caught on just yet, but it's really horrible. I'm thirsty, but there's no way I'm drinking any of the water around here. I have too good of an idea of what's been in it." With a smirk, Dekuyume reaches into the yellow bag she had packed for Kagome and hands her a water purifier, Kagome sweat drops, "You seriously plan for everything don't you."

Dekuyume only laughs. _Oh Imouto you have_ _no_ _idea…_


	40. The Jewel Returns

Chapter 39: The Jewel Returns

 _Just a few more steps and it would all be over._ Three days without sleep, hours filled with planning and sorcery at an end. All for a quick and brutal defeat of a yōkai that had been powerful enough to claim her own spot in the Dai-yōkai courts without the aid of a mate, and in spite of the fact that she could only partially transform.

There were more types of yōkai than there were stars in the sky; the language barrier alone was insurmountable never mind the plethora of cultural differences between the species. A common ground was needed, some form which all beings of merit could attain and conduct business in. He found it amusing that the upper echelons of yōkai society held such distain for humans, but had chosen the human form as their common ground. _What fools._

 _But the centipede was the greatest fool, to parade around as if she had crushed the four cardinal lords before even fully absorbing the jewel_. Mukade moves forward a few more feet, drunk on the power of the jewel, giggling quietly to herself, ignoring her surroundings entirely. It proves to be her downfall as the trap springs.

First to activate is a spell that causes the amount of gravity applied to an object to massively multiply, Mukade screams in agony. _The spell was once used by imps to escape their greater cousins wrath before they were all enslaved and put to work by magic wielding humans millennia ago._ _Proof that it was always the better sorcerer that won in the end, and that travelers should be wary of beautiful women._ He grins to himself at the memory, in a woman's form, he had learned quite a lot about the wizarding world from the wizard, and even more from the imp in rags he called his house-elf. _Not that he used their magic, it was such an banal way of doing magic, far too many ways for it to go wrong and do harm to the caster._

The second to activate is a spell to separate organic matter from inorganic mater, a thieves old friend for making off with every valuable a person carried no matter how well it was concealed, and if the objects had a tendency to move in a direct line regardless of the matter (or gravity) in their way, _well he never had any problems dealing with leftover meat._ There is a wet gushing noise as old wounds hidden beneath Mukade's chitin are forced open and the objects removed. She passes out, the pain too much to bear.

The last spell to activate is one he had been uncertain of using. But the centipede had an unpleasant tendency to resurrect herself when the Shikon was close enough and he had no desire to kill her over and over… _he wasn't quite angry enough for that._ A loud boom echoes through the forest, a once dense patch of forest gone, the Meidō-gate leaving only a perfectly spherical crater. With cautious steps he approaches the crater and examines it. _It was empty. Good._ Though it was disappointing that he couldn't collect a trophy, he kept one from every being had felt triumph in defeating. He wore them with pride, these proofs that he had conquered beings that were supposedly greater than he.

He moves over to the location that the loot was supposed to be moved too, _an embellishment of his own design, embedded in the second spell._ He kneels down, examining the small pile of objects, careful not to get his baboon pelt dirty. _He remembered the yōkai who once filled it well, his first instructor in the art of magic. But there had only been so much the old monkey had been willing to teach him and he never did take being told no very well._

Pushing aside all the broken weaponry that had been left behind in the centipede's body long before she had gained the jewel, he finds himself with a pile of broken weapon fragments and magatama. _How on earth had she come by those?_ He sifts through the pile with careful fingers until at last he spots his prize at the bottom of the pile. He throws his head back and laughs, "Ku. Ku. Ku." _Damn but he was brilliant, with over 2 million minds, bodies and souls at his disposal how could he not be?_

Naraku picks up the Shikon no Tama and freezes realizing the gravity of his errors. _._

Desperately he searches through all of the artifacts again only to come to an embarrassing concussion. _Somehow… somehow he had broken the jewel._ He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. _There were many perks to having a collective soul, a time discrepancy between his body and his soul, and thus the ability to process massive amounts of information in the time most took to generate a complete thought, was one of them. Much to his consternation, there was one very large disadvantage that nearly negated that._

He hisses evilly as he exhales. Every move he made, or word he spoke was the result of countless hours spent coming to a majority vote among all the souls he had adsorbed. Problem was, the majority was not determined by number, but by the mass of their soul. This was the reason why a nearly infinite horde of yōkai was not enough to stand against the power of Onigumo's feelings. 50 years had passed since his Becoming Naraku, and Onigumo still made up over a third of the spiritual mass of their collective soul. _To make matters worse, he was still very, very pissed off about Kikyō's death, and taking it out on the rest of them._ His eyes open once more, the riot in his collective soul, quelled. The next steps planned.

Carefully he examines the fragment in his hand, given the shape of it, and how clean the cut was, there would be three parts. A cursory overview of his surroundings told him an unpleasant truth, the other two pieces were not nearby. He would have to search for them, along with every pathetic, power hungry fool that found out about them. If any of them managed to get the jewel fragments before he did… He would have to fight them for it, directly or indirectly it didn't matter, Onigumo would fight every step of the way, just to spite them.

He rises to his feet and his shape changes rapidly beneath the baboon pelt, a testament to the depths of his rage. No matter how hard he had tried, he had yet to learn how to stay in the same shape when his emotions were high. _He would have to do something about that soon, there were several ways… First he would have to decide who's face he liked best..._ The crater is engulfed in his purple black magic, brought to life by the miasma that carried it around his form. It twists through the air, a menacing display of power. He reaches out in all directions, trying to feel for the Shikon.

Eventually he comes back to himself and he kneels for a moment before launching himself into the air. A perfectly spherical red barrier forms around him and holds him aloft in the air. He siphons power from the jewel fragment clenched in his hand and directs it to the barrier, allowing him to use it to travel at incredible speeds. He lands in a clearing just three miles away from where he had his Becoming _._ Moment's ago another fragment of the jewel had disappeared down the well, but was gone now. _He knew it well, and he was not foolish enough to go into the magic he could sense inside._ With another hiss of irritation he launches into the air again, shooting off to the last fraction of the jewel.

He finds it quickly, and his opponents quicker. The three were disgustingly loud as they stood around squabbling over the jewel fragment. _None of them were at his level without the jewel, never mind comparing them to his level of power with it. There was no reason to retreat and do this from afar._ Yura laughs as she looks at her downed foes, caressing the pretty jewel and admiring the way it shines in the light. _The hairless blob was just pathetic; though he was the only one she had ever met that possessed an equal appreciation of a good head of hair. Probably because he only had three scraggly strands to call his own. It was sad really._ _The toad was just annoying and she was going to have fun cutting him into itty bitty bits._

Naraku drops out of the sky to land at her feet. She dies before she can even register his presence. A single quick-cast spell formed at the end of his fingertips in accordance to his will is her downfall. With a swift jab, he embedded them both in the female's stomach. She bent in half, completely unguarded, eyes wide open in shock. Yura would trouble no one anymore, the fire spell traveled too quickly along her strands of hair for her to launch any defense, the intense heat of the flames quickly destroying the comb that had spawned her.

The toad yōkai she had wrapped up in her thin strands of steel like hair perishes as well, his dreams of beautiful human women and royal leisure ended. But the third… the third was an elemental yōkai, thunder to be precise, and the fire had little effect on him. His large rotund body belied his speed, and seeing his chance he darted forward and grabbed the Shikon fragment before it could even reach the ground and rest amidst the falling ashes. He then disappears in loud boom of thunder, leaving Naraku to watch with gritted teeth as the lightning the demon had transformed into, travels at speeds he has no means of matching.

 _He would have to be creative about this if he wanted to catch the oaf before he ran again._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome no kami pouts. She had always wondered how the Noh mask had gotten a jewel shard, so she had been watching the jewel intently as it moved around the feudal era.

 _She refused to believe it had happened like this the first time._ She glares at the jewel fragment as the artist carves the mask from the tree the fragment was embedded in. She turns her back on the scene and huffs.

 _All I wanted was to know what happened, but no~ Stupid jewel just launches itself in the air and aims right for me, I swear this is its revenge for breaking it with the arrow the first time... There it is, flying through the air right at me, and the only thing I can see is it launching itself towards Onigumo-kun inside The Amphitheatre. I don't want to fail where he succeeded so spectacularly, so I panic and slap it away… right into the well and its open time portal. I make it through the well to see it embedded in a tree and this guy already at work… It's going to be a pain making sure it makes it to the Shrine… She's going to laugh at me when she has to handle the purification and sealing rights…I certainly don't know how to do it._

 _All well, at least_ _I_ _didn't break it this time…_


	41. Father's Swords

Chapter 40: Fathers Swords

The Lord of the West knelt at his writing desk, brush held elegantly in his hands as he worked through the paperwork that had collected in his absence. As soon as he was done, he would head out again, _The Tessaiga would be his, even if he had to search the whole world for it. He did not need anyone to protect! There was no room to coddle the weak on his path of conquest._

He moves to the next document, and reads it with a frown. It was a report from one of his father's vassals, the one that had been given to the half-breed. The flea had chosen to follow the pup around when his pathetic human mother took him from the palace. Myōga was last seen watching over a sealed Inuyasha in the forest the half-breed owned, his only endowment from his human mother. _Though it appeared that the half-breed was half no longer._

He considers the information carefully, and the note dissolves in the acidic poison of his claws, the only testament to his rage. _They had returned to the Moon Palace because his vassal Jaken had claimed that the staff of two heads could no longer sense the Tessaiga. All this time and the sword had been hidden somewhere_ _inside_ _the whelps only saving grace, the blood of their great and terrible father._ The poison drips from his clenched hand onto his writing desk. _If what the miko claims is true, the sword would never be seen again._ _If the sorceress possessed insufficient magic to release the bindings she placed on half-breed, he would kill her for depriving him of the Tessaiga._

He rises from his seat and moves through his palace stopping only to tell a random servant to replace his desk. Jaken catches up to his lord as the Dai-yōkai approaches the gates. "Sesshōmaru-sama please do not forget your most faithful servant Jaken!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sighed in frustration, _had the mutt always been this annoying? He had hounded her so incessantly that she had been unable to speak with Kagome-chan. It wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't completely useless in helping prepare to chase after Mukade...chan._ Unfortunately, tracking without the benefit of yōkai senses was not one of the skills Dekuyume had had time to work on, and without his yōkai heritage, Inuyasha equally as useless. The jewel was already out of Kagome's visual range and so they were left waiting for word from the yōkai exterminators. If anyone could help them track the centipede, it would be them.

Frustrated, but keeping her expression calm, she turns to the boy at her heels. "No, I do not have the magic to give you back your yōkai heritage. Please stop asking me to do something I cannot, you waste your breath and try my patience. Be warned, you may be human now and thus immune to my purification magic, but I don't need it to kill you, I assure you, an arrow through the head works just as well." Kaede resumes her trek to the small graveyard outside the village, filled with a need to visit her sister's grave. _Was this proof that the dark spirited miko had betrayed her oaths to protect humanity, or a frustrated woman's warning? Inuyasha-kun was certainly vexing enough._ She never notices the attack on the other miko, and continues on with her day.

He lunged. A brilliant streak of silver fur and white raiment trailing behind him as he fell to the ground once he dispelled the cloud of magic he had flown here on. Dekuyume had noticed the Lord of the West easily, _though truthfully she doubted he had been trying to sneak up on her, not really his style._ A normal miko would have pulled up a dome barrier in hopes of halting the attack. But only miko as strong as Kagome could hold up a barrier strong enough to block a Dai-yōkai, but as always, what Dekuyume lacked in power she made up for in skill.

The dog lord's deadly poison claws were halted by a barrier no more than five inches wide placed at exactly the right spot to block his attack. She met his eyes evenly as he remained balanced on the barrier. After a moment spent dribbling acid from his claws and having it splash harmlessly onto the ground, no sign of damaging the barrier, he withdrew backwards with a flip; coming to stand across the clearing, once more the perfect example of regal poise.

Inuyasha's jaw drops in surprise, without his sensitive nose, he had no clue that his half-brother was nearby. He had only realized that they were under attack because Jaken had given his lord away as the loud mouth kappa screeched, plummeting from the sky. He finds he has no words to say in the face of the miko's easy self-defense against Sesshōmaru. Irritated, he crosses his arms and turns his head away, launching a verbal attack at his brother, "Heh. What am I so scary like this that you decide to attack a human wench instead?" He goes ignored.

Kagome, comes to stand next to her sister. She had run all the way from the village when she sensed such a powerful yōkai near her anesan and the rude boy. She wipes her forehead with one hand, slightly out of breath. Her hands clench, wishing she could draw her bow, but didn't want to show undue hostility when Dekuyume was clearly unworried. She takes a good look at their opponent. _He was… pretty… So pretty in fact that if she couldn't see his adams-apple over his kimono she would have mistaken him for a woman… was that fluffy thing slung over his shoulder his tail? Kawaii!_

Luckily for Inuyasha's future happiness, Kagome's small crush on the dog lord ended as abruptly as it began. His words trampled the soft feeling into the dust before it had a chance to sprout. "Woman, you have cost me a sword, and removed any chance the half-breed had of living up to our great father's blood. You will pay with your life." Kagome gathers her powers in response, a veritable hurricane for which her body was the eye. _Just who did this guy think he was! No one threatened her anesan!_

Dekuyume sighs _, she would have to fix this quickly, the dog lord was too valuable to be lost so soon, or so pointlessly to her imouto's temper. She had been planning on waiting until the exterminators arrived, and Inuyasha-kun demanded to come along before dealing with his need for a sword, but now was as good a time as any._ "You speak of the Tessaiga. Yes it is a tragedy that the blade will rest in your father's grave outside of the mortal plain until the end of time. The kami understand this hardship, and in recompense for depriving The Inu-no-taichō's youngest son his birthright, they have seen fit to give Inuyasha-kun another great blade, copied from another dimension. I am certain that a second blade traded between house Higurashi and the House of the West would not be frowned upon, if it would ease your anger in this matter." He scoffs, "No  simple human could hope to have a blade to match the Tessaiga in greatness, much less two. "

Dekuyume finishes her trap, "Inu-no-taichō left no instructions for his third sword. Unable to give the blade to either of his sons, Saya-san brought us Sō'unga after your father's death." His eyes widen nearly imperceptibly, but it was exactly what she had been watching for. _It really was too easy to manipulate him like this, and she couldn't quite decide if it was because she knew him so well already, or because at only 600ish years old, he was very young to sit as the monarch of the yōkai of western Japan._

His demand for the blade is equally predictable, "You will give this Sesshōmaru his father's deadliest blade. It should never have fallen into the filthy hands of humans. Their weak wills are no match for the blade's bloodlust, nor are they strong enough to keep it safe from the demons who seek it's great power." Dekuyume spins on her heels and heads towards the well, forgoing any form of polite bowing he may have been expecting. _Bowing was a sign of respect, and she felt none. She could only hope that the kami found some way to introduce him to his human girl once more. He was too annoying otherwise._ "And yet it is this miko and her kin that have kept the blade so well hidden that not even you have known it's whereabouts. And just for your reference. _There is nothing_ _simple_ _about me_."

Sesshōmaru glares at the woman's back and his claws tingle as he considers killing her for her insult. Even the young miko in her indecently short kimono offers him a quick, graceless bow before she turns and scurries like a rat after her sister. _If the woman ever lived up to the promise of her Becoming, he would kill her before she had a chance to enjoy it._ He follows after the two of them, a silver-white vision of grace.

Inuyasha is left alone in the clearing, ignored. He bows his head, his bangs covering his eyes. He had been silent throughout the exchange, _Sesshōmaru had never even glanced in his direction. It was like he no longer existed to him, like he had died the moment his yōkai blood was gone. He had always known that his brother hated him, he couldn't pretend otherwise with how often he showed up to try and kill him. In a single moment the women from the future had taken that away from him, and promised him a weapon that sounded like it was even stronger than what his old man left him… He was so confused. Was he supposed to be happy right now, or sad?_

He shakes the emotional turmoil away and turns and runs after everyone, passing his brother and making it to the two women in time to hear Kagome ask Dekuyume in a whisper, "Is it really a good idea to let him visit the future? Who knows what might happen if he had that kind of information."

From behind them all Sesshōmaru hears them clearly and raises an eyebrow _, surely they wouldn't dare try to go so far in their charade? Surely they must know that his superior senses would see past their trickery. Not even the so called Kitsune king of thieves, Yoko Kurama had managed to breach the walls of the palace when he was home. Nor was he foolish enough to incite this Sesshōmaru's wrath by removing anything from the grounds in his absence._ "You will bring this Sesshōmaru, there is no need to dirty the blade with your hands. It will need a thorough cleaning as it is." He is surprised when the alpha of their pack merely nods, and masterfully cuts off the whelp before he can even speak, "Yes Inuyasha-kun you may come as well."

Inuyasha shouts, "Hey! I'm older than you are!" Dekuyume looks down at him, at 22 she was still quite a bit taller than Inuyasha who, while being over 200 years old, appeared only 15. Given that he would be human from now on, and how badly his nutrition must have suffered in his childhood, she would probably always be taller. Had Kagome not been such a tiny girl, she probably would have been taller as well. "Not anymore, you're just a 15 year old boy, and you have less than a century to live. You should consider how you want to live it carefully, this era is fraught with danger, you never know when you might meet your end. Imouto, explain the well to them while I fix all the sutra to let them through."

Without a hitch in her movement, Dekuyume takes a large step onto the lip of the well and allows herself to fall into the depths as the time portal activates. On the other side, she quickly climbs up the ladder, pulls out a felt-tip pen and amends the sutra pasted to the sides of the well, allowing Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha through, and prohibiting Mukade. She waits at the door to the well house as first Kagome passes through, and then, Inuyasha, the time portal activates, a fourth time, and yet the Dai-yōkai does not leave the well. Kagome goes and checks the well, while Inuyasha takes the opportunity to hurl insults. Through it all Dekuyume remains at her position near the door, only a small smirk on her face. _Had he not been so infuriatingly arrogant I would have warned him to guard his senses on this side of the well, no doubt he has lost consciousness, his senses overwhelmed._ "Leave him be, we will deal with him on our way back to the feudal era."

The two teenagers look at her with mixed expressions. Kagome, well aware of her sister's propensity for planning and scheming shakes her head in exasperation, and Inuyasha looks at her as if she had just given him the best birthday present ever. Dekuyume turns and leads the way to the storage house, "Leave him alone Inuyasha-kun, it isn't worth the trouble you would get when he regains his senses." She bows politely to _The Sacred Tree_ as she passes, Kagome as well, more interestingly, Inuyasha mimics the gesture, albeit with far less grace. _He clearly hadn't bowed to anyone in quite some time, though his mother must have given him some lessons, she was a hime after all._ Dekuyume nods at him approvingly and Kagome grins before grabbing his hand and tugging him along. He huffs, turning his head away with a small blush on his face.

Dekuyume slides the doors to the storage house open, pausing in the doorway to caution them. "Sofu, the kannushi for this shrine, had me dust, clean and organize this place to prove the sincerity of my pursuit of the holy arts. It is in your best interest to keep your hands to yourselves." The two teens nod, and Dekuyume leads them in, knowing very well the trouble she invites. _But there were only so many things that could be changed before her knowledge of the future/past became obsolete… it was best to give The Fates an easy way to keep everything similar, lest they come up with something else entirely…_

She moves over to the sword display mounted to the wall and begins searching for the two blades. The first found was Sō'unga, the blades malice easily spotted even with the spirit Saya serving as a seal. She tucks Sō'unga into her obi before carefully lifting Murasame from its pegs. She turns and glances at Inuyasha, who looks so guilty that she can't even bring herself to sigh. _At least the barrier around the shrine will drive the mask away before it can hurt anyone inside._

"Inuyasha-kun. This is Murasame. Do not let its name deceive you into thinking that it is a peaceful blade. There is a reason that it earned the nickname one-cut killer. There is a curse on the blade that allows it to stop the heart of anyone who receives even a tiny cut. They die within seconds. Please note that if your target does not have a heart, it is merely an unbreakable sword with a very sharp blade."

She holds out the weapon and he takes it reverently. "There is one other thing as well. If you are ever brave enough to accept responsibility for all the lives you will take with this blade, cut yourself with it. For as long as your heart is strong enough to resist the curse, you will find that your senses, your speed, your strength and your agility surpass even what you had as a hanyō. Do be careful though, the human body isn't meant to handle that kind of strain and at the very least, you will tear your muscles to shreds."

"Inuyasha-kun." He looks away from the finely crafted blade and up at Dekuyume. She meets his eyes firmly, determined to impress the danger of the blade that had been chosen for him. _It may have seemed silly to give a boy with no sword training such a dangerous blade, but this too was just another lesson for his soul._ "If your will ever falters, you may very well wind up another victim of Murasame's power. Use it wisely." Dekuyume smiles softly at Kagome's worried face, "I plan on teaching you how to heal battle wounds over the next few weeks. No doubt Inuyasha-kun will give us someone to work on."


	42. Heartwarming

Chapter 41: Heartwarming

The three leave the storage house, and Dekuyume shuts the doors with a soft click. They walk along the path until they reach the house, Inuyasha is so distracted by his weapon, he doesn't even realize that they are not going back to the well until he is being introduced to their family. He is herded into the kitchen, where Dekuyume quickly sets about preparing tea. The distilled water heats in a kettle she had worked three summers to purchase, and she pulls out her finest hibiscus tea. The family listens with calm acceptance as Kagome explains her encounter with the centipede. She brushes over some things, but Dekuyume knew what had really happened. _She would let it go, to bring it up would only cause Kagome pain._ The tea finishes steeping, and she serves her family and Inuyasha before placing the last two cups on a small tea tray. She opens a drawer next to the door and removes a small white fan, adding it to the tray before carrying it out of the room.

Inuyasha looks into the kind face of the Higurashi matriarch, and is reminded of his own mother as she gently chastises Kagome for leaving her room a mess. "Kaasan! Only anesan plans to be pulled down a well into the past!" The family chuckles, and Kānēshon takes the opportunity to let Kagome know that Dekuyume had made plans for much more than that. "Yes she does. Because of that, you were withdrawn from school because of your sudden social anxiety problems." She holds up her hands before Kagome's horrified gasp of surprise can go much further.

"Ryūken-san signed the paperwork, and now you are going to be homeschooled by your anesan who just so happens to have a teaching license. Because of your anxiety we will frequently have to turn your friends away, but you will occasionally feel up to visiting with them. Just like you will feel up to returning home from your journey and easing the worry in your Kaasan's heart." Kagome's eyes tear up and she moves around the table to give her mother a hug, "Oh, mama." Next to Kānēshon, Sōta chips in, "Kaasan says that you will still have to come back for your tests. Since you will be taking them at your old school, I can ask your friends to let me know when they are scheduled, so you don't miss any."

Inuyasha watches the scene quietly, remembering a time when his own mother treated him the same… _She died while I was still young. Human lives were so short… and now his was too. He couldn't keep throwing tantrums like a pup, not if he wanted anyone to take him seriously before his hair turned white once more…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was difficult, climbing down the ladder with two cups of tea, but she managed without incident. _I doubt the young lord would enjoy waking to scalding hot tea in his face._ In the narrow confines of the bottom of the well, she considers him. Unfortunately Sesshōmaru was no sprightly teenage girl, he was a full grown man with a heavy cuirass armor. There was just no way that Dekuyume could lift him, and honestly she doubted Inuyasha could either.

Using her magic to ease the burden of his weight was out, his nose would pick up the scent even if hours had passed, and she had no desire to sent mark the Dai-yōkai. _That would be rather counterproductive to her life span, kami curse or not._ With a sigh, she carefully balances the tea tray on the top of her head before she places a hand on the side of the well and the other on the edge of his spiked pauldron. (( _Kagome no kami, this Dekuyume prays that you open the time portal to the feudal era so that the Dai-yōkai Sesshōmaru may ease his delicate sensibilities from the oppression of the future.))_ Dekuyume can almost hear Kagome no kami trying to stifle her giggles as the portal opens and the two are engulfed in light.

She holds herself still as the time stream flows by, _for all that it felt like a person moved from one opening to another, they didn't actually go anywhere._ Only time was moving and so it was, that Dekuyume and the Lord of the West appeared in the feudal era in the exact the same position they had left the future in. Carefully, she removes the tray from atop her head and takes the small white fan. She uses the fan to blow the scent of the tea into the dog yōkai's face. _She was not foolish enough to try and shake him awake, it was bad enough that she was in such a small confined space with him, but it couldn't be helped._ She watches the sunlight's reflection shift slightly in his hair a few moments later. _He was awake._ "Feeling better I see." He opens his golden eyes to regard the strange miko.

He nods slowly as his eyes trail down to the tea tray and fan in her hands. She raises an eyebrow and holds out the tray to him in offering. He sees that there are two cups, and while he wouldn't normally partake of human fare… _The water used in the tea was the cleanest he had ever smelled, and the flowers scent gave proof to their quality. It wasn't as if there was a poison that could harm him, as he himself, had the most deadly poison in all the lands._

He takes the cup and jumps out of the well, unwilling to remain in the confined space with her. _She was by far the cleanest human he had ever dealt with, but she was still human._ Sitting in the shade of a tree he takes a sip, enjoying the taste. He examines the cup as he drinks his tea, watching as the woman climbs out of the well and leans against its side as she enjoys her own cup. _They were finely made, nearly perfect in their smoothness, and the scents in the air from the future…_

Knowing what he is thinking, she explains, "Sometime in between now and then the kami will issue a proclamation. Their stated goal, to separate the humans from the yōkai in hopes that some time alone will end hostilities. They will perform transformations like the one done to your brother on anyone who does not comply. The village of Edo will eventually become a city called Tokyo with over 13.2 million humans calling it home. If you want to know more, I suggest you live long enough to see it."

He nods regally and after she finishes her tea, she comes over to him with the tea tray, her empty cup atop. He speaks as she kneels in front of him and takes his cup, adding it to hers, "You make good tea, Higurashi." She nods in appreciation, _it seemed that the dog lord could learn respect;_ and sets the tray aside before removing Sō'unga from her obi. She holds it out to him with respect and grace and he takes it with equal measure. Kagome and Inuyasha make their way out of the well as Dekuyume bows before picking up her tray. He rises to his feet and secures Sō'unga to his obi. _There was no mistaking the sword, and if it was a clever forgery, Higurashi would pay with her life as he had intended from the start._

Sesshōmaru turns and begins to walk away, halting after only a few steps _. It would be dishonorable to leave without offering some token of his gratitude. He would never have lived down the shame of being manhandled by his human once-half-brother, but he did not want to spend any more time among them than he had to. It was ironic that Inuyasha was far less annoying as a human. Perhaps the strain of their great fathers blood upon the whelps human heart had been too much, and no one had ever noticed. They were all armed with bow and sword now, so this Sesshōmaru will arm them with information to satisfy his honor…_

"A shape shifting half-breed abomination by the name Naraku took Inuyasha's form and slew Inuyasha's miko. Fooled by Naraku she then proceeded to sealed Inuyasha. The shape shifter has defeated the yōkai who stole the Shikon from you, and he has broken the jewel into three parts. One remains in his possession, another has fallen to thunder yōkai outside of this Sesshōmaru's lands, and the last has yet to be found." He leaves without a word further, launching himself into the sky, heedless of the chaos left in his wake.

He settles in a barren patch of earth at the heart of his lands. It was here, nearly half a millennium ago that his father had taught him how to take human form, how to handle a blade, and how to control both his poison and his temper. _Though he knew that the last item on that list was one he was still working on._ With a slow deep breath, he checks to see if the spells his father had placed so long ago were still active. _They were, good. Now he would learn one last thing from his father and finally rise out of the Inu-no-taichō's shadow._ He forces open the seal on the blade, ignoring the spirits cautions and complaints.

Three days later his battle against the sword ends. The blade had nearly possessed him countless times and no matter how centered Sesshōmaru was, or how bolstered his will was by his anger, Sō'unga only seemed to become a greater adversary with each fresh attempt. Perhaps Sesshōmaru would have remained there in battle against the sword forever, but it was not to be. Within his blade prison Sō'unga smiles wickedly before launching an attack of his own at the Dai-yōkai. _The lords powerful form would serve him well_.

His influence spread up the young lords arm and would have quickly captured his heart were it not for one of the many spells the Inu-no-taichō had commissioned for his heirs training grounds. The sword is ripped from the Inu yōkai and Sesshōmaru howls in pain and fury. But there is nothing to vent it on, the was sword already banished into the fiery volcanoes of a far off land. A volcano named Bárðarbunga, in what would become north eastern Iceland, erupts in response. Sō'unga howls in rage as he is once more dragged into the depths of hell. He dwells there for an age, waiting for another fool to dare call upon the dragon of the darkness flames.

Sesshōmaru rises shakily to his feet, he had to leave here, already he could feel what little was left of his father's magic dissipating _. The scent of this Sesshōmaru's blood and sweat will lure the scavengers in quickly._ He leaves the area with some haste _, He does_ _not_ _flee_. Eventually, he comes to rest outside of a particularly pungent human village. He rests with his back against a tree before pulling his magic in tightly. _No being but another cardinal lord would sense his presence, not even if they walked passed him._ Carefully he removes his armor and kimono to check on his wounded arm. _It was as he feared, not only had he lost another of his father's blades, but his arm as well._

Eventually he falls into an exhausted, recuperative sleep, only waking when he hears the skittering of small feet in the underbrush and his nose alerts him to the scent of unwashed human child. _He had forgotten that the eyes of children were not so easily fooled. There wasn't much of a threat, even if the brat brought the rest of her pack to attack him. He was weakened yes, but he was_ _not weak_ _ **.**_

The young lord would rest there for the remainder of the week, in the unwelcome, unneeded care of a silent human orphan. And when the local wolf demons attack the village, eating some, and leaving others to be carried back to the den to feed the others? He would look down at her dead body, clearly on the path to see him and he would wonder. _It was a strange thought to consider, but there were only so many times that the idea could cross his mind before he gave it a chance._ His father's words echo resoundingly in his mind as the last of the Inu-no-taichō's blades pulses with energy at his side. _("Do you have anyone to protect?") He had said that he had no need for distractions and weaklings on his path of conquest…_ _Perhaps the question his father asked him so long ago was not really a question… but was instead, an answer._

He draws the only blade of his father that remained. The Tenseiga had never obeyed his will before, but this time, it did. The Inu-no-taichō had left his eldest son the greatest of his swords, though his son had never seen it so. Many were the blades that could kill foes in great number, but only this one could bring the dead back to life.

In silence the human girl rose from her death and followed the yōkai lord into the wilderness, never looking back, not even as the howls of wolves rose from the village in triumph. She would prove to Sesshōmaru that his father's great strength had come from the desire to protect his pack, _his human wife, his hanyō son, his yōkai consort and yes, his yōkai son as well_. This tiny little human girl, Rin, would become Sesshōmaru's greatest strength. And many, many years in the future, when it came time for him to have the same conversation with his sons he would pose the question exactly as his father did.

 _Do you have anyone to protect?_


	43. Exterminators

Chapter 42: Exterminators

He looked around at the mess his office had become. There were stacks of paper everywhere, in fact there was so much paper in the office that his secretaries had moved their desks into the hallway and begun working from there. Koenma takes a deep breath, desperate to keep his tears in. The moisture was bound to ruin what paperwork he had managed to get done. _This was all the Shikon's fault, there wasn't anyone else running around turning time all topsy-turvy without warning any of the other kami._ As of a few weeks ago, the mortal plain had both dinosaurs and robots running around at the same time. The records now showed that earth had been destroyed and wished back several times over and there were aliens running amok all over the place.

It was bad enough when everyone was still earth bound but then some blue haired woman, bearing a striking resemblance to Botan, had built a space ship. The aliens all left and it had been semi-peaceful until they came back. Then suddenly it was _Boom!_ Yellow hair and explosions of energy, and they were bouncing all over the place making a mess of things once more. _He couldn't take it, he just couldn't._ The paper work was piling up faster than he could deal with, and half the work he did get done was obsolete a few days later, when the world was wished back to life again. _He was almost willing to accept the karmic dept of killing them all, if only so he would have enough time to get through all of the paperwork before they somehow managed to all come back to life again._

George, the only person in the entirety of _The Spirit World_ who seemed to be enjoying the chaos, cheerfully wheels in another dolly worth of paperwork, "Here is some more paperwork from the archive Koenma-sama, Enma-daiō, has said that you are responsible for resorting and re-stamping all of it before the Shikon matter is resolved, since that's when everything will go back to normal again." Koenma bursts into tears, no longer able to hold the frustration back.

 _He was never splitting like this again! His Enma persona was a sadist! Mercy! Mercy!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sighs in relief. Sesshōmaru had left the kappa in the shrubbery around the village, and it was only just now that he had recovered enough to depart. _They say that you can judge a man by how he treats his inferiors, but somehow she felt that Sesshōmaru-san's behavior towards Jaken… had less to do with his character, and more to do with his inability to deal with screechy voiced sycophants._ Kagome smiles happily as she spots her sister, "Anesan! I finished my assignment!" Dekuyume smiles back, "Good, now how did you go about solving the equation on…" She is interrupted by a shout from the edge of the village, "The yōkai exterminators have arrived!" The two miko move to Kaede's hut to meet up with an Inuyasha who had been strangely quiet for the past few days. Kaede greets the leader of the group, Kei, and they talk while the rest of the exterminators set up a small camp just outside of the village.

Kei looks at the two young miko, making special examination of the youngest one _. So this is the one who claims to be the reincarnation of the great miko Midoriko-sama. It was true, he had no spiritual senses himself, but there was no mistaking how clearly the girl's aura matched that of the one that even now resonated in the cave that served as Midoriko-sama's burial chambers. Perhaps they are from the future, perhaps not, as long as the curse of the jewel is finally lifted, it doesn't really matter in the end._ "We will aid you in this matter, I will send out our spies immediately to confirm the western Dai-yōkai's words and see if we can't figure out where the third piece is. Any demon that has managed to get its hands on it is sure to cause a commotion. If you have no means of paying is it is fine, I know that this village does not have much to spare."

"I will pay you, though, we should discuss the payment in private." Kei looks at the eldest Higurashi miko who had spoken, _she was a beautiful woman, but..._ "I am a married man, and even if I were not, I wouldn't insult a miko like that, not even one as beautiful as you." Dekuyume blinks in surprise several times before she laughs. In the background she can hear her imouto sputter incoherently, pulling herself together she smiles apologetically, "I meant no such thing, I simply did not think that you would wish the spell I mean to give you in payment, to be public knowledge. But if you feel that your virtue may be threatened, by all means take me back to the exterminator camp, and we can discuss the matter in full view of your clansmen."

Kei laughs in surprise, _this was certainly an interesting woman! Had he made that mistake with his wife she would have slapped him so hard he would be feeling it for weeks, literally!_ Kagome pouts as she is left behind with Inuyasha and the old miko. Turning to Inuyasha she hesitates for a moment before asking, "Hey. Are you all right? You've been quiet the past few days. You aren't worried about your sword are you? Anesan has already taught me enough that you should be ok…" He stares at her for a moment before shaking his head and leaving the hut. Kagome pouts more. _Mou._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The yōkai exterminators gathered in the planning tent whisper amongst each other. Kei looks into the eyes of his beloved children. Sango, his 16 year old daughter, and his 11 year old son Kohaku nod back at their father. _If the what the miko's spell promised was true, it would be worth the danger of having an identifying mark on their bodies. The yōkai exterminators often had to use their ability to blend in with regular villagers to their advantage when collecting information on yōkai, it could be very dangerous to have a tattoo that declared their trade to anyone who caught a glimpse of them without their clothing..._ Kei asks cautiously, "You are certain of this." Dekuyume nods, "Yes, I can only handle about one a day, but I can easily give all seven of you the ink-spell. The only trouble you might have, is finding another miko to be-spell the rest of your clansmen. While it does not require a lot of power, it needs a deft hand and good magic control."

Sango looks up at her father and places her hand on his arm. _He knew what she was asking, and he really didn't want to allow it… but if anyone could prove the miko's claim it would be her and Kirara. Their bond was strong enough to survive if it went wrong..._ "You will begin with my daughter, once we have tested the spell, you will do so for the rest of this hunting party." Dekuyume nods, bows politely, and leaves. A small shadow trails behind her, and aware of its presence, she detours to the well.

She sits on the side and waits patiently, but the attack never comes, so she speaks. "It has been a long time Kirara-san." A small cream and black two tailed yōkai cat comes out of the underbrush, hissing at Dekuyume. Dekuyume sighs, watching as flames engulf the cat as she transforms into a much larger saber-toothed version of herself. _It was her battle form, she remembered the sharpness of those teeth well._ Dekuyume remains in her position and speaks calmly, "I am Magatsuhi's reincarnation, but if you give me a chance, you will find that I am much changed. I know it must seem strange to you, you who stood at Midoriko-san's side as she fought against me…"

Kirara growls once before taking a menacing step forward, _strange indeed trickster!_ Dekuyume sighs, "Kagome-chan has been my imouto for 15 years, if I sought the jewel I would have taken it from her before she could walk. I have already confessed my past to her, and she accepts me. I just want to help her resolve the issue of the Shikon, keep her safe, and make her happy. If it makes you feel any better the kami saw fit to curse my health in recompense for all the harm I did in my past life." Kirara hesitates, _Magatsuhi was sincere… that was probably the strangest thing about all of this._ The feline bursts into flames as she shrinks down to her lower energy form. The two stare at each other for several minutes in the setting sun. There was more than enough patience between the two of them, they could have easily sat there like that the whole night. Kirara's ears perk as she hears her newest companion call out her name, _there was no reason to sit here when Sango's hands were so welcoming._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Seven days later Sango knelt next to her brother as Dekuyume-san placed the ink-spell on Kohaku. _Normally he was a little bit of a coward, but he was handling this well. She had seen miko working magic before, they usually just chanted strange words, completely ignoring everyone else's confusion, but this one was different, offering words of encouragement to her little brother._ The combined forces of the two women were more than enough to bolster the little boy's courage. Dekuyume grins, "And done! Congratulations, once Kagome-chan fully heals your tattoo, you will never have to worry about being possessed by a yōkai again."

Sango moves around the futon that priestess had done the procedure/spell on. She offers her a hand up and Dekuyume takes it gratefully, _doing this so many days in a row was grueling, it was made more so by the fact that she had to maintain another spell to keep her eyes a proper human color._ The chieftain of the the yōkai exterminators watches as the miko, _who demanded to be called Kagome-chan,_ heals his son's ink-spell. Kei didn't know if the payment they had received was worth the services they were selling. _How was he going to explain to his wife that they were in dept to the Higurashi clan, and would likely incur more dept if Higurashi-san proved to be the only miko with the skill to cast the spell? It was a great boon to them, even if it it did not extend past this generation._

Kei moves to the local miko's hut, curiously eyeing the colorful tent that Higurashi-san had set up for herself and her sister. He nearly bumps into Inuyasha at the door, _in spite of their name, the yōkai exterminators did not go around killing yōkai left and right for money. The hanyō Inuyasha was one of many beings that had made it into the clan archives as a possibly-non-hostile. His affiliation with the miko Kikyō was well known, and his behavior was only threatening to humans who offered him threats in return. It was almost sad to see that he was human now, but if it was the will of the kami, it couldn't be helped. The most he could do, was see to it that the boy learned to use the blade he had been given. He was proud to say that all of his clansmen, even his young son, had spotted the boy spying on them and emulating their fighting style in secret. It had been allowed to continue, though no one had made a move to offer lessons directly. Sango-chan was the only woman in this group, the rest knew a young man's pride well._

Dekuyume enters Kaede's hut and kneels on the floor next to the fire, her skin pale and wan. _At least the blood disease I'm dealing with now is only at the stage where it causes exhaustion and bruising, I don't want to know how these people would behave, if my face was covered in open sores and scabs_. Seeing that everyone has arrived Kei begins, "We have received payment, and confirmed the western Dai-yōkai's words. Unfortunately we haven't been able to find out anything about the third piece, and we have received a call for aid from the damiyō Kagewaki Hitomi-sama."

He bows to Dekuyume and she is mildly surprised at its depth. "While we are sorry to have arrived too late to help you track the centipede yōkai, my son and daughter will journey with you and aid you in your quest. While they are both young, they are very skilled, and you will have no problems tracking down these thunder yōkai. Please listen to their suggestions, they have trained extensively for this, and may have insight that you do not."

Dekuyume nods her head in agreement and goes to rest inside her tent while the yōkai exterminators pack up and head to the caste Naraku had infiltrated. _The spider would be in for quite the surprise. Doubly so since I sent a carefully coded message back to the exterminator village using their messenger birds. The yōkai hoard set to attack their home will not find them so easily taken down._


	44. Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 43: Calm Before the Storm

Dekuyume found the journey to Raimei valley to be a peaceful one, Kagome found it to be a sad one, the yōkai exterminators found it to be a strange one, and Inuyasha just found it it plain exhausting. _How did humans spend so much time traveling? His feet hurt, he was damn hungry, and this heat was killing him._

While enjoying the strangely covered travel snacks, and the unusually clean water that the elder Higurashi gave them, Sango and Kohaku had explained what they had found out about the thunder brothers. The their father had been an elemental yōkai, and their mother had been a lizard of some sort. The eldest brother, Hiten took after their father in appearance, and Manten, the younger, took after their mother.

Apparently, both yōkai had a wide range of lightning attacks, and could even make the clouds attack with them. The brothers reveled in violence, battle and senseless slaughter. They had little to no respect for life, and seemed to take pleasure in being just about as evil as they could. They were also very misogynous often kidnapping women, having their way with them, and eating them afterwards. There were even reports that Hiten had slain his mistress in a fit of anger, because he was unable to find another fragment of the Shikon in the short amount of time they had held one.

Sango went on to explain what the exterminators had discovered of their weakness. For all their despicable behavior, the two brothers cared deeply for each other, and had actually been seen passing the jewel fragment between the two of them as they slew both sides of battling samurai armies they had stumbled upon. Not only did it give them a chance to steal the fragment while they were trading it, it meant that neither yōkai had managed to completely harness the jewel's power. Additionally, Manten was very sensitive about his appearance and often turned the women they were done with into hair growth potion instead of eating them.

The brothers also had another weakness. They had just recently managed to kill a kitsune and the youngest brother wore his pelt. That kitsune had a Dai-yōkai son, who the brothers were keeping in a cage, bait for others of his kind. Apparently, Manten wanted to collect the pelts of three kitsune and try a different hair growth potion, and there was no fur of greater value than that of the kitsune, who's pelts retained almost all of the magic that they had even after they had died.

Kagome shudders when she hears this, but she is not worried _. Anesan will come up with a plan so that no one has to get electrocuted or turned into potions._ _And_ _we will still rescue the fox!_ She easily ignores Inuyasha boasting that he would take on both brothers and that everyone else should just stay out of his way and watch. Dekuyume then asked Kagome to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the group as she knew them, Kagome promptly began listing all of Inuyasha's faults.

She probably would have continued to do so for a while had Dekuyume not cleared her throat pointedly. Sheepish, Kagome then explained Murasame's curse, and how Kagome herself was very powerful, but still in training. Embarrassed, she admitted to being reasonably skilled with a bow and that she had learned how to use the knife she kept hidden up her skirt if she ever found herself unable to use her power or bow. It was with great pride that she told the slayers that everything she knew how to do, she had learned from her Anesan and Sofu, who was the kannushi for the shrine she was born on. She then grinned as she bragged about Dekuyume and how her Anesan was very good at strategy and all manner of sorcery even though she had only enough magic to fill a teacup.

Taking this in, Sango explained that her primary weapon, a giant boomerang, was called Hiraikotsu, and that she was well versed in the sword as well. Kusarigama, a sickle and chain was Kohaku's primary weapon, and he had only just begun to train with the sword, but could still fend off normal humans with one if he had to. Every slayer was given a breathing mask, to ward off the many airborne attacks yōkai used, and they often used smoke bombs to distract or disorient their opponents.

When they arrived at the edge of the valley, they hid along the walls peering at the castle the brothers had claimed at the center. There were no trees, nor was there any grass; just a wide field of rocky earth. There were craters everywhere, a testament to how often lightning had struck in the area. It would be difficult terrain to fight on, especially when their opponents could fly. Dekuyume looks up at the castle, there would be no cover, but that was all right. _She had planned for this for a while now. Some years ago, she had purchased a faraday suit in Kagome-chan's 15 year old size. It was a good investment, there really were far too many yōkai with the ability to play with lightning… As for herself, armor was rather unnecessary._

Kagome's eyes widen in surprise as her sister opens up Kagome's yellow pack and pulls out a weird chain-mail like set of armor. Kagome leans forward and looks inside her backpack. _Where had that been? She had searched through her entire bag when she catalogued all of the food Deku-neesan had put in her yellow backpack. There was no way she had missed something like that! Had her sister placed spells on the pack turning it into some multidimensional bag of holding or something?_

Dekuyume helps her sister put the faraday suit on, explaining to everyone what it does in the most simplest way possible. "You are familiar with oiling your blades so that other things do not stick to them, yes? Well this armor that Kagome-chan has, does the same thing, only with lightning. I will be doing the same thing with my magic, but imouto just has too much to be able to perform the same spell herself. Do not be alarmed if I am hit and collapse, it takes a few moments for the lightning to be dispersed."

Dekuyume meets her sister's eyes, and Kagome nods. She knew her anesan was lying. There probably was a spell that she could use to protect herself but… Deku-neechan always did say that the only difference between a curse and a blessing was how you chose to use it. Kagome didn't want to know how Dekuyume had figured out that her curse could be used like that. If she ever got a chance to talk to the reincarnation kami she would give them a piece of her mind!

The two slayers are wide eyed in awe of the armor Kagome wore. _It was just finely crafted metal, without any magic in it at all!_ Dekuyume continues, "Inuyasha-kun will be mostly protected by his fire-rat fur clothing, but will still be hurt if he takes more than one or two hits. Do you have anything for yourselves?" Sango and Kohaku nod, _it was a trade secret, but almost every part of their armor, and even their weapons were made from the bones, hide and sinew of the yōkai they had defeated. The weapons and armor were sentient, and through a special procedure, the exterminators quelled the anger of the defeated yōkai and formed a partnership with them._ Sango caresses Hiraikotsu. _Hiraikotsu was made from the bones of several flying yōkai, and at this point it was as important to her as her family and Kirara._

Dekuyume finishes adjusting the suit. "Kagome-chan, remember. The faraday suit only works as long as your whole body is covered. Don't take any of the pieces off until you are absolutely certain all the energy has been grounded." Kagome nods from within the suit, "Hai!" Dekuyume turns to the rest of the group. "At the moment only Kirara-san is capable of flight. When it degenerates into a fight, everyone should do their best to lure or drive the yōkai to the ground." All around everyone nods, and Dekuyume continues, "While everyone else hides, I will take Kohaku-kun, and together we will infiltrate the castle."

She raises her hand to forestall any arguments from his sister, and Sango glares at the miko in response. _This had better be good. Client or no client, no one put her brother in danger pointlessly!_ "Kirara-san and you need remain out here. We don't know yet if the brothers are even home, and your ability to fly is wasted indoors. The same goes for Kagome-chan and her archery. I would take Inuyasha-kun but he is far too loud for the kind of sneaking we will be doing. I must go, since I doubt any of you have the skill to break a spell capable of holding a Dai-yōkai kitsune prisoner. He may not be our friend, but he is certainly their enemy and I will not turn down another ally against them. I will go alone if I must, but I would feel better if I had another close range fighter at my back." Sango kneels down and pulls her brother into a hug, he returns it knowing that there was no reason to deny the miko. _But he was so afraid…_

Dekuyume readies herself, hiding her and Kagome's packs between two rocks and moving another over the top to hide the bright colors from anyone flying overhead. _Unfortunately there was little she could do about the crayon red color of Inuyasha's fire-rat robe._ That done, she moved her quiver and bow out of the way on her back, before reaching up the sleeves of her kimono jacket and withdrawing a finely crafted tantō etched with a pink and black yin-yang. _Anyone cut with it was in for a nasty surprise, there were quite a few spells on the blade, all of them of her own creation. It had a twin with an equilibrium sign, but if she ever had to use that blade…_

"Everyone, _be careful_." With a nod she turns and runs, Kohaku follows, marveling at the efficiency of her movements. The exterminators trained themselves to the peak of human capabilities, some like Sango, could even tap into their chi in order to fight on even footing with yōkai. _As pathetic as he was, he was still capable of running like a deer through a forest for almost an hour before he needed rest… somehow he thought that this miko just might be able to out run him, even though she had no training at all._ He is even more surprised when he catches a flash of red in her eyes as she places her hand on the servant's door and be-spells it open when it probably hadn't been opened in over a century. _He would pretend he didn't see anything and speak with Sango-neechan later… there was something strange about this miko, and he thought he had a good idea what._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

With a frustrated sigh, Sango watched them go, waiting on nervous legs, Hiraikotsu in hand, only breathing out a sigh of relief as they disappeared into the castle. Sango settled into a restful battle position, taking the time to really look at her clients. _Everything she needed to know about Inuyasha-kun, she had learned from her father. The real puzzle was the reincarnation of Midoriko-sama. She was just so cheerful in comparison to the sad faced Midoriko-sama she had gazed upon for so long…_

Unfortunately, a short time after the two entered the castle, Kirara growled in warning, causing everyone to look to the sky. Hiten and Manten had just come back from another kidnapping spree, and were floating on a dark thundercloud with four kidnapped women. Kagome whispers, "How horrible... Hey guys, the large one, Manten, has the Shikon fragment on a chain around his neck." Sango and Inuyasha nod to show they heard, while Kirara leans into Sango's neck. Luckily for the group down on the ground, Hiten and Manten are distracted by the women, bickering about which brother got to play with which. Kagome sighs in relief as the cloud passes over head, even though she is worried about her sister and the young exterminator being in the castle.

Unfortunately, it is at that exact moment, that one of the women looks away from her captors, unable to stand the sight of the awful yōkai that had promised to leave the village in peace for a generation if the village would just surrender its most beautiful women to them. The village had complied, and still the yōkai had laughed as they completely destroyed the village with a single attack from the large yōkai's mouth. It is she, recognizing the exterminator armor that Sango wore, that gives the four on the ground away, "Help! Help us Exterminator-san! I'll pay you anything!" Sango grits her teeth in anger, _of all the times to be recognized as an exterminator and not mistaken for a ninja…_

Catching sight of the dumb human wench's wanna-be heroes, Hiten jumps off of the cloud, floating in the air above them on strange spinning wheels of fire. _A fight was always better than a woman, not that any of these humans would be much fun in either department._ As he powers up Raigekijin, a spear with an unusual spearhead and lightning magic of its own, he lets himself fall from the sky at the only male of the group. _Perhaps these women would be more interesting than the ones he already had. The slayer at least would be some fun as she writhed in agony beneath him…_ He shouts, "No Trespassing!" as he brings the spear down in an arc, just a few feet away from Inuyasha. _As much fun as it was shooting at the humans as they ran about in terror, sometimes he just liked the feel of their blood splattering over his face._

He is stunned when his attack is blocked by Inuyasha and his Murasame, and enraged, when it is answered by a punch to his face. Hiten vibrates in his anger. _The human may have an ensorcelled blade, but none of his opponents had ever managed to strike him in the face. That a human had dared…_ Lightning flares out of his body in all directions as he rises back into the sky throwing a temper tantrum. "You had better make this fight interesting human, **I'm going to play with you until you do**."


	45. Quelling the Storm

Chapter 44: Quelling the Storm

Inuyasha promptly finds his hands full with the thunder yōkai. He sends many taunts the yōkai's way, trying to lure the bastard back down into cutting distance, but all they do is piss the guy off more. Inuyasha grits his teeth. _It was annoying to admit it, but the older wench was right_ , his father's last gift and Murasame took much of the lightning damage, leaving him to deal with the unpleasant difference in his strength versus the yōkai's. He was doing well, but only four swings in and already, the fire-rat fur was beginning to get holes. _It would repair itself with time, but that wouldn't do him any good if he cooked to death right now._

Seeing that Inuyasha was doing well enough with the yōkai that did not have the Shikon fragment, Kagome turned her attention to the one that did. He was still sitting on the cloud, and he was distracted by his brother's fight. With a quick exchange with Sango, Kagome turned and fired an arrow at him. Had he not been augmented by the Shikon fragment, he would have died quickly. Instead, he used the power of the jewel to once more transform into lightning, darting out of the path of the holy arrow.

He fires a ball of lightning from his mouth at the miko and stands there, open mouthed in surprise, as she takes the blow without being phased. Indeed, the ground beneath her feet suffered more harm than she did. Little did he know, that Kagome was slightly dazed from the loudness of having a lightning bolt hit her point blank. _It's a good thing anesan taught me how to deal with hearing damage. Who would have thought, that I would have to use something like that on myself, when I learned it for Sofu._

The two had multiple exchanges, each, equally as futile. Kagome could not hit Manten with an arrow, as he would always zap himself away, and Manten, wary of getting close to her, could only fire more blasts of lightning, that served to only dig a deeper crater underneath Kagome's feet. Hiten eyes his bothers fight warily, grinning as he manages to hit the damn human boy with one of his weaker, but much faster, lightning attacks. _The miko was strong, and she didn't even have a jewel fragment. She may be the strongest that had ever walked the earth. If a single one of those arrows hit Manten, not even the power he gained from the Shikon would save him. They couldn't even afford to pass the jewel between them, a moment's pause would be all it took for her to kill them._ He grins menacingly, _She would be even more fun than the exterminator, maybe he should fuck them both at the same time so they could cry to each other for help?_

Sango was frustrated _, nothing was going right, she was the only yōkai exterminator in this fight, and yet she wasn't doing any of the yōkai fighting._ She knew she was the only one who could rescue the women, but that didn't make it any easier. Neither the miko or the once-hanyō could do anything while the hostages were in the air, and Kirara could not speak to let the captive women know that she meant them no harm. What was worse, was the cloud was beginning to dissipate now that neither brother was maintaining it, so she couldn't just leave them there until the end of the fight. The last woman on the cloud cries pitifully as she meets the exterminators eyes from her position in the very center of the cloud. "Exterminator-chan… I… I'm afraid of heights." Sango grits her teeth, _merciful kami give her strength to deal with useless, silly damsels in distress._

Kagome was having problems, so many of the balls of lightning had hit, that instead of standing in a crater, she stood in nearly molten earth. With much difficulty she had crawled out of the hole, only to be kicked in the side by Manten when she made it to the top. She screamed in pain, feeling a rib crack and awkwardly swung her arm, burning Manten with her magic. He retreated a few meters away, checking the horrible burn on his leg and watching with glee, as the power of the jewel caused it to heal before the Miko even managed to fire another arrow.

Just as Sango finally managed to coax the last woman onto Kirara's back Inuyasha made his second mistake, he was distracted by Kagome's scream, and was rewarded with a second blast of lightning. His kimono jacket fell to pieces around him, no longer able to take any more of the strain; and his sword, was thrown away from him, leaving him with no defense against the lightning.

Hiten taunts the human boy, "Its bad form to get distracted by a wench, keep your head in the game kid. The only thing they are good for is pleasing a man, they have too much sappy compassion to be of any use otherwise. I'll prove it to you. Hey Bro, tell the wench what you're going to do with the fox-child."

Manten grins widely at the miko, showing all of his razor sharp teeth. "Oh? Well since the potion doesn't need his toes, I was planning on cutting them off one by one, laughing at him when he pisses himself, and wearing them as earrings. Fox toe earrings would go nicely with this fur, don't you think!" Kagome stares at Manten in shock. _The Dai-yōkai… was just a kid?_ Manten attacks with his battered, stolen sword while he thinks she is distracted and is repulsed by the barrier that springs up around her.

 _How could they be so cruel. She just couldn't understand._ Regaining her senses Kagome notices the barrier and wills it away. _Thanks anesan! I'm good now!_ She draws another arrow and fires at him, forcing him to doge away once more. "That's enough! Your story ends here you cruel bully!" Manten laughs, "You say the kindest things miko!"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hearing the explosions Kohaku and Dekuyume pause, glancing at each other. Then another and another explosion echoes through the castle and Dekuyume grits her teeth, sensing an ink-spell she had placed on Kagome years ago, activating. She can feel Kagome deactivate it just as quickly, reassuring her that her imouto has everything under control, Dekuyume turns in the direction of the fox yōkai. _There had to be a window somewhere she could take a peek from and fire arrows if necessary._

Kohaku stops her, "What are you doing! Sango-neechan needs our help. The other boy is useless! Even I fight better than he does! And this is your sisters first battle isn't it! She must be too scared to fight!" With that, he turns and runs as fast as he can back to the entrance to the castle. Dekuyume grits her teeth in irritation before running after the boy. _She knew the boy was a coward, but apparently he could toss the emotion aside if he thought his sister needed help._

 _At least he had his priorities straight. Family was precious and children were sacred._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _He was losing, badly._ He knew he didn't know enough about how to use a sword, that was why he had spied on the exterminators when they were training. He had almost, almost asked them for help, but... _no one had ever helped him before, and he didn't know if he wanted them to start now that he was human._ _But now, he was paying for it… He, he could really die here_. Inuyasha refused to give up though, he glares up at the yōkai in the air. Sango uses Hiten's distraction to throw Hiraikotsu from her position guarding the retreat of the fleeing women, giving Inuyasha the opportunity to run to his Murasame.

Further enraged, that a pathetic, cowardly woman who had yet to fight at all, had dared attack him, Hiten launches a ball of lightning at her in retaliation, but it is blocked by Hiraikotsu's return. Grabbing Murasame, Inuyasha spins and throws it at Hiten. Hiten, distracted by Sango, barely had time to doge, and received a tiny cut on his face in reward. His eyes turned red with his rage and he grinned evilly, "You. **Are a crappy shot**." He never notices the speech of the curse spreading over his body from the cut on his cheek. He feels dizzy, and gasps for air, grasping at his heart before falling out of the sky. He looks up as his brother zaps himself over, "Man…ten Bro...ther." And so the first of the thunder brothers died.

While Manten began weeping into the corpse of his brother, Sango rushed over to Murasame on Kirara's back and using the ends of her sash, retrieved Inuyasha's deadly blade. He takes it from her gratefully, too sore to move far because Hiten's previous attacks. Kagome moves over to them, grimacing at the horrible moist sound of Manten's sobs. _It made her feel a little ashamed, here was this guy crying over his brother, and she was complaining about how nasty he sounded when he cried._

Manten's back was to them, and as he stopped his weeping, he slowly rose. They watch as he cradles his brothers head his in his large hand and promises, "I will kill them for you my beloved brother. They have taken you away, so I must take them away from each other one by one. I will leave them all pile of ashes in your honor, brother." Slowly, he turns around to face the four trespassers, his eyes an eerie red in his rage. But what Kagome finds more disturbing, is the red smear at the edges of his mouth. As he moves forward and Kagome sees what is left of Hiten, she nearly pukes. _Manten had used his sharp teeth to cut open his brothers chest and eat his heart._

Manten glares at the four, calling on the power of the jewel, "I have taken my brothers skills, and with it and my father's spear I will smite you all. I will kill you one by one and when the last of you dies, I will move on to your village, even if that means I have to destroy _. Every_. **Single**. _One!"_ Holding Raigekijin he points it at them and fires. The ball of lightning is massive, containing the magic of both Hiten and Manten, the power of the Shikon, and the magic of the blade itself.

Each person does their best to leap out of the path of the attack. Sango and Kirara go high, taking to the sky. Kagome, exhausted and awkward in her faraday armor, trips and face-plants, ultimately forced to rely on the armor to defend her as she curls up in pain from her cracked rib. But, Inuyasha had no such luxury, his fire-rat fur was in tatters, and Murasame's curse only worked on things with a heart. _There was only one thing that could save him._ Fearlessly, he cut himself with his own blade, right over his heart. _It wasn't as if he had much of a choice._

Dekuyume and Kohaku make it back to the battlefield, just in time to watch the fight end. While Kohaku stares in horror as the giant ball of lightning moves towards his sister, Dekuyume, sure of Kagome's safety, watches Inuyasha's transformation. _In comparison to the transformations many demons did, it was fairly tame, the sclera of his eyes turned black, the speech of the curse was swirling in a circle around the pupil of his grey eyes and red tribal markings spread down the side of his face, down his arms, chest, and legs before ending in a swirl on the tops of his feet._

Dekuyume watches the boy move, nearly ten times faster than he had ever been as a hanyō, and much more agile as he does a baseball slide underneath the churning surface of the lightning ball. Inuyasha uses the momentum from his skid to rise to his knees and with a driving thrust, stabs Manten through the heart with Murasame. Manten, who's eyes had been straining against the brightness of his own attack in attempt to watch his brothers murderer be incinerated, is left staring in surprise at the blade in his chest, and the suddenly demonic appearance of his nemesis. _Was this how the thunder brothers were defeated?_ _There was only one member of their clan left now… Sōten… what will become of you without us?_ With these last thoughts, Manten too died at the hands of the one-cut-killer.

Kagome forces herself to her feet, ignoring the searing pain in her side from her cracked rib. She runs over to Inuyasha, who falls to his knees unconscious the moment he sheaths Murasame, and begins healing him, "Anesan! Help! There's so much wrong with him I don't know how to fix it all!" Dekuyume runs over to help. Kohaku goes to his sister and after a moment of conferring with the terrified women, the two of them let the busy miko know that they are going to take Kirara and get the women to the nearest village. The thunder brothers had completely destroyed the one they were from. Dekuyume nods in acceptance "Come back here when you are done. It will take a while for us to get Inuyasha-kun in a transportable shape."

Nearly an hour later, after her power and focus is nearly depleted, Dekuyume leaves Inuyasha to Kagome. Slightly unsteady on her feet, she moves over to Hiten placing two finger tips on his forehead, she moves her hand down his face, closing his eyes before using half of her remaining power to purify his body from existence. She watches the yellow flecks of magic, and the orb that was his soul, dissipate back into the domain of the kami he belonged to, before dusting her hakama off and making her way to Manten.

She retrieves the fox fur with some difficulty, as Manten was a great big brute, and she folds it reverently, knowing that the fox's sprit is still very much present. _And watching. The last thing she needed, was a fox curse, on top of the kami curse._ As she goes to remove the chain from his neck holding the Shikon, she is forced to doge. She rolls to her feet, bow in hand, and fires an arrow. But, due to her exhaustion from healing Inuyasha's foolishness, and giving Hiten a miko funeral, she just couldn't put enough power into it, and the arrow did little more than make the yōkai laugh. Kagome never even notices the hideously ugly two headed flying yōkai making off with the corpse of Manten, Shikon and all. Dekuyume sighs. _This was turning out to be much harder than she remembered it being._


	46. Illusions

Chapter 45: Illusions

It took another hour after the yōkai had made off with the Shikon fragment for Kagome to finally finish healing Inuyasha enough so that he could at least be moved without doing more damage to himself. Dekuyume and Kagome had talked while they waited for Sango and Kohaku to return. "Anesan, Manten said that the kitsune is just a kid… What are we going to do? He might be an orphan now, and there aren't any orphanages in the feudal era…" Dekuyume closes her eyes with a sigh. She remains in silence for a moment before giving her attention to the fox pelt and the spirit she could still sense hovering around it. "What would you have us do with your son, kitsune-san?" Kagome's eyes widen in surprise as the empty pelt fills with fox fire and the spirit speaks to the two of them.

(( _I have seen into your hearts, and if you truly wish to obey my wishes in this…))_ The foxfire and pelt burn intensely and Kagome thinks that if it had been a real kitsune, and not an illusion she might have peed her skirt.

(( _I would ask that you take him with you and raise him as if he were your own kin. I know that the woman who was once Magatsuhi-kun knows enough sorcery to see him well taught, and knows enough about kitsune that Shippō will not feel out of place should he ever find himself among others of his kind…There is no safe place to take him but the academy and I… I want more for my son than the typical life of a kitsune, it is why I gave up my tails so he could be born a Dai-yōkai._ )) Dekuyume nods in understanding. _Trust a fox to see through all the deceptions she had set up to fool everyone._

Kagome nods, teary eyed, _this… this father clearly loved his son very much_ , and he reminded her so much of her own that she couldn't help but be moved to tears. "Are you sure? We almost died today, it's probably only going to get more dangerous from here, especially when we have the jewel fragments. And Anesan will be fine, but I don't know anything about kitsune beyond what is in the fairy tales. I don't want to hurt my new otouto's feelings…" Dekuyume smiles, _always so kind…_ "Unless he asks for something else, just treat him as if he were a ridiculously sturdy, human boy."

Shippō's father fox-smiles at the young miko and darts forward to lick her cheek, mischievously leaving a wet streak on her face. (( _You are a very kind, woman who was once Midoriko-chan. Please teach that kindness to my son, as your sister teaches him how to protect his precious people.))_ He leans back and folds his fox fire around himself. Kagome blinks once more and stares in surprise at the fox pelt. It was folded exactly, as it had before the vision. She lifts her hand to her cheek and finds it damp. _How had a being made of fur and fire left behind moisture?_

Wide eyed she turns to Dekuyume and finds her anesan smiling at her, eyes bright with her love for magic. Kagome has to ask, "That totally just happened didn't it." Dekuyume ruffles her imouto's hair, "Never let anyone tell you that illusions hold no power because they are lies. Some of the most powerful spells are the lies we tell ourselves each day. We say: I can do this, or I can't do that; and the power of the illusion makes them real."

Dekuyume gently picks up the fox fur before rising to her feet. Turning her head to the sky Kagome waives at Sango and Kohaku as they return. Inuyasha is carefully maneuvered onto Kirara's back. Sadly, he wakes in the process. Kagome sighs, _apparently a hurting Inuyasha-kun was a grumpy Inuyasha-kun, and he shared… wasn't that nice._ Dekuyume's arms tingle as they get closer to where she can feel the little kitsune's magic.

Kagome pauses before glancing at her anesan in worry, she whispers, "There is a dragon and another thunder yōkai in there too." Dekuyume nods "Yes." The two exterminators ready themselves for battle, and Kagome reaches out and snatches Murasame from Inuyasha's hands before he can even draw the blade. She glares him into submission, "If you want to cut yourself again so badly, _I can do it for you."_ Inuyasha gulps and shakes his head no. _This girl was scary._

Dekuyume shakes her head at everyone's antics, and careful of the fox fur, she opens the door and goes inside, leaving them all behind. The exterminators rush in after her only to sheepishly put their weapons away. Kirara carries Inuyasha in after them, leaving Kagome to follow along behind. The dragon, was no bigger than a coconut, and the last thunder yōkai? The last thunder yōkai was a very young girl dressed in a tom-boyish manner similar to her brothers.

Sōten sat outside the cage Shippō had been locked in. At this point it was hard to tell if she was trying to comfort him, for being trapped and at her brothers non-existent mercy, or if he was trying to comfort her, for losing her brothers. The two children were young, but here in this feudal era, even young children knew what death was.

It is at that moment, that Inuyasha opens his mouth to vent his unhappiness, and ruins the scene, "Hey look, those evil bastards had another sibling. Guess there were three brothers, I wonder how much of a monster this one is!" Sōten turns and glares at him, throwing a weak lightning ball the size of a marble at him. _It was inexcusable! There was no way these humans had defeated her brothers! They must have cheated! They must have tricked them somehow… There was just no way… there was just no way her brothers were gone._

The little dragon puffs himself up in an attempt to look threatening, "If you intend to harm my mistress you will find your selves…" He sputters in indignation, as Dekuyume walks right past him. She kneels before the cage with the fox fur in her arms, and Shippō's eyes fill up with tears. Dekuyume eyes the lock. _There was no magic in it at all, clearly she was going to have to start with teaching the fox lock picking._

Resting the fur in her lap, and taking out two of the pins she kept in her hair for just this reason, she has the cage open in a matter of seconds, leaving everyone staring at her in shock. She raises an eyebrow at them, "What." No one is quite willing to say anything about how strange it is for a miko to be so proficient at a skill associated with thievery. Kagome just shakes her head, _no doubt it was just another strange thing her Anesan had inherited from Magatsuhi-san._

Shippō steps forward as Dekuyume opens the door and offers him his father's fur. He takes it back reverently, communing with his father for a moment, before he uses his fox magic to wrap the fur in fox fire. His father becomes one with the magic, joining with his son as Shippō pulls the fox fire back into himself. Dekuyume speaks, "Your father has asked that we take you with us. House Higurashi is willing to take you in as a son, provided you are willing to call humans your kin." While he stares up at her, speechless, she turns to Sōten. "As for you." Sōten flinches, but raises her chin up high. _Now that they were closer, she could tell that these humans were holy and exterminators, not even her great power was enough to deal with these wretches that had murdered her brothers and invaded her home._

Dekuyume sighs, "Child. Is there anyone we can take you to? I know that you are the last of the thunder demon tribe, but if there is anyone on your mother's side of the family..." Sōten glares at the miko, _How dare she! How dare she threaten to attack the lizard yōkai! Clearly she didn't know that her mother had been banished from there because she chose to break her parents' wishes and mate outside of their clan._ She throws a laughing acorn illusion at Dekuyume who simply raises an eyebrow.

Sōten yells. "There's no one left! You killed them! They may not have been goody two shoes spreading peace and love everywhere, and they certainly weren't chivalrous, but they weren't monsters! They were my brothers, they weren't evil! They protected each other, and when all the other tribesmen died… They came back for me even though they could have chased down the ones that did it. They always make time to train with me, they always bring me souvenirs from their battles."

The girl began crying in earnest as she slowly realized that her brothers would never be able do any of the things she was telling them, ever again. "They said that one day when I was strong enough, I could go with them and… and… And they… they always called me kawaii even when they knew I didn't like it. They weren't evil, so why…. Why did you take them away from me?"

Dekuyume sighs, kneeling on the ground in front of the distraught girl, ignoring the lightning attack wrapped in the little girl's fist. Sōten pummels uselessly at Dekuyume's chest, her weak attacks adding no further damage than the blood disease she was currently suffering from. Dekuyume reaches out and pulls the yōkai into a hug and Sōten begins to cry in earnest. "Your brothers were great warriors, who enjoyed battle and destruction. Can you truly tell me that they would be unhappy to have died fighting?" She rises to her feet and moves over to one of the many windows with Sōten in her arms, "Look at the valley, can you truly tell me that they would be unhappy to know that thousands of years from now, when people look upon this place, they will know that it was the thunder brothers that tore it asunder?"

Sōten mumbles into Dekuyume's chest, "They weren't evil monsters." Dekuyume glares at Inuyasha who turns his head to the side, only to be confronted by Kagome's disappointed face. He tucks his arms in his slowly regenerating sleeves and bows his head, feigning sleep, when in reality he was kind of ashamed. Dekuyume leans back so she can see Sōten's eyes. "I am going to tell you a secret that most adults keep from children for as long as they can, often times to the child's detriment." Sōten's eyes are red with tears but they focus on this strange almost-yōkai-miko.

Dekuyume smiles sadly, "There is no such thing as good and evil, there are only people and the sum of the things that they are willing to do and endure, in pursuit of their goals. At the end of the day, monster is just the word we use to describe someone else's hero." Sōten nods sharply, grateful that at least one other person didn't think her brothers were evil.

Dekuyume pulls her closer into the hug, whispering so that only the yōkai in the room can hear. "I understand if you hate me and my companions for taking away your family, but you cannot hate me for doing whatever it took to see that I did not lose mine. That miko over there glaring at the insensitive brat, is my imouto and I will do **anything** to keep her safe. Perhaps in another life, my efforts would not have been enough, perhaps you would have been older and able to fight at your brother's sides, and it would have been us that perished today, but not this time. Now. I need to know if you are going to join us on our admittedly dangerous quest, if you will face the world alone as the last of your clan, or if you plan on becoming our enemy to avenge your brothers. **Please understand, that I will do anything to protect my family, even if that means that I have to kill a little girl to do so."**

Sōten gasps and leans back in the woman's arms and meets her eyes. They were like steel _. She meant it, she really meant it…Hiten-niisan… if you had ever really had a chance to meet… you may have actually liked this lady…_ In the end, the young thunder yōkai found she had only one choice, "I'll go with you, but I'm not gonna call you mama." Dekuyume laughs as she rises to her feet, "That's ok, Anesan will do just fine." She sets Sōten down and walks over to Shippō, "And you Shippō-kun? Your father is avenged, and his pelt returned to you. Though he has asked us to adopt you, the choice is still yours. Will you go with us into certain danger, or will you take your chances on your own after we take you to the fox academy?"

Shippō grins at Sōten, "It just isn't right to let a pretty girl go off with strangers alone. Of course I'm coming with you anesan!" Dekuyume grins for a moment before frowning. She kneels once more, meeting Sōten's eyes, "Imouto, I have a bit of a confession to make." Sōten's eyes narrow in suspicion. "While I was able to give your eldest brother Hiten-san, a miko funeral, sending his essence back to the kami of thunder; so exhausting was the fight for our side, that I was unable to do so for Manten-san, before a flying yōkai made off with both his corpse and the Shikon fragment. We will locate the yōkai and slay it for the fragment and the insult to your brother. If we are lucky, we will also find your brothers remains and I will send him to wait for you on the immortal plain with Hiten-san. I swear it." Dekuyume bows her head in apology. Sōten nods her head in acceptance. _They may only be human, but at least this one seemed to understand the values of family and honor._

Dekuyume rises and turns to the exterminators. "Do we have any way of tracking a flying yōkai like that, or are we going to have to wait for it to cause enough havoc that we are alerted to its location." Kirara mewls pitifully. _After carrying so many humans on her back, she was too tired to fly anymore today, she barely had the strength to deal with Inuyasha's weight, but she would manage. But, by the time she was ready to fly again, the scent would have already drifted away. There was far less in the sky to track than there was on the ground._ Dekuyume cautiously reaches out and scratches Kirara behind her ears, grateful when her once enemy allowed it. "It's not your fault Kirara-san. We don't want you to hurt yourself." Sango is surprised and excited, "You can understand her!? Can you teach me?"

Dekuyume smiles, hiding her uncertainty. _There was no way she could tell the exterminator that she understood Kirara-san because of familiarity. There were several animal-speaking spells she could use to fake it, but that could lead to a whole other set of problems. All of the ones she knew were used by yōkai who couldn't change enough of their bodies to use human speech, they weren't really meant for humans._ She is saved, or outed depending on your perspective, by Kohaku. "It's because you're one of the almost-yōkai, isn't it." Dekuyume glances down at him, "You're very perceptive aren't you. Yes, you're mostly right." He looks away, embarrassed. Dekuyume sighs, "There is a reason that I was chosen to accompany Kagome-chan on her journey to end the trouble of the Shikon no Tama, and not just because I am her Anesan."

Dekuyume meets each slayer's eyes, then the children and Inuyasha. Kirara purrs encouragingly, when their eyes meet. Dekuyume meets her imouto's eyes and Kagome speaks for her. "Just as I am the reincarnation of one of the jewel's creators, so is my anesan. Please do not hold her past against her, she is a whole new person now, as am I." Dekuyume bows her head in gratefulness, and to hide her tears. _It was_ _her_ _… It was only ever_ _her_ _that filled her with this kind, gentle light._ The others can see the tears glistening in Dekuyume's eyes as she rises, smiling gently at her sister.

Sango and Kohaku stare in surprise at Dekuyume. Every exterminator was taken to Midoriko's cave before they took their first mission. The aura's of both the miko, and the coiled mass of yōkai, were still resonating strongly enough that even spiritually insensitive people could feel them. While Kagome certainly felt like Midoriko, Dekuyume felt nothing like the yōkai. Sango shakes her head, "Otousan would never have left us with you if he felt that you meant us harm. Let's go back to Edo, we all could use some rest, and the other exterminators may have an idea what the flying yōkai was."

Dekuyume nods and offers a smile to the two children, she is bemused to find them staring up at her in awe. She looks at them as she asks the room, "Please do not speak of this again for any reason, not even among yourselves, you never know when someone may overhear. Not only will it give our enemies quite the surprise, but it will also prevent people who aren't quite as understanding from trying to sabotage our group, or "save" you from me." Everyone agrees, and they begin their trek back to Edo. Dekuyume keeps a close eye on Inuyasha. _He was too quiet, either staring death in the eye had forced him to grow up, or he was fuming about the fact that he lost his yōkai heritage, while I still walk around with a chance to regain mine._


	47. The Mask

Chapter 46: The Mask

The grass was green all around, but the heat made the already unpleasant aroma of the village even more rank. Kagome was almost glad that she had to go back to the modern era, and the joys of air conditioning, to take a test. _Almost… It was math after all._ After entrusting the children to Sango, Dekuyume had chosen to go back to the modern era the night before to prepare more traveling supplies. _She could have taken them into the future, but there was a very real chance that their elder selves were in the yōkai sanctuary. There was no need for that kind of temptation._

Kagome however, chose to keep studying for her test in the peaceful no-distraction environment of their tent in the feudal era. It was bright and early in the morning, _and she would have plenty of time to eat breakfast with her family before catching the train to school._ Inuyasha wasn't having any of it though. _She lost the jewel fragment to some flying yōkai, and the wench wanted to go back home? No way in hell, she was the only Miko with any real power. The other one was useless. She hadn't even been there to fight!_

He grabs her, that was his first mistake. His second wasn't letting go when she told him too. And his third? It was addressing her in a way she had already said she would not tolerate, "Wench! We ain't got time for that. Now get your shit and let's get the hell on with the hunt!"

Kagome's eyes narrow, and she utilizes the self defense lessons that she had learned from Dekuyume _. I could hit him in the eyes, but I don't want to blind him. If I hit him in the nose or throat I might kill him on accident. So knees, groin and feet it is. Step one, kick your opponent hard in the kneecap, then graze along the shin and stomp with all your might on the top of their foot. Doing this could break several of the foot bones, making it difficult for your attacker to pursue you. For extra measure, kick him in the groin, and most importantly make a lot of noise. Simple enough._ "Inuyasha! SIT BOY!" Under the onslaught, he never stood a chance, and collapsed to his back in pain.

Kagome turns and stomps up the path to the well, grumbling to herself all the way. "~Wench, wench, wench, I have a name you know! ARGH! Why does this test have to be on math! _"_ The fuming girl never notices the two kami hiding from her as she disappears in a ripple of magic from the well.

Wide eyed, Sōten and Shippō, who had been playing tag in the trees with Kōryū had witnessed the arrival and departure of the two kami, stare at the well for nearly three minutes in wide eyed wonder. Shippō whispers to Sōten, "Were they… Were they kami?" Sōten nods and Shippō looks around for anything to make this right, any way to keep going on the path they chose… He finds nothing and he knows that their plans are ashes in the wind before they had even had a chance to grow. He sighs, "I think we should give up on our plan." She looks downtrodden and starts crying before she nods dejectedly, she mumbles, "Sorry, I have something in my eyes."

An equally teary eyed Shippō nods, "Me too." He rubs his eyes with his fists. "I don't think it would have worked anyways. If someone had managed to make a wish on the jewel and had it come true, everyone would know. But all we ever hear about the jewel, is how many people have died using it for power… I think that even if we did manage to steal the jewel from the Miko before they could get rid of it, and wished for our families to come back to life, the jewel would do something to them to make us sorry for wishing them back."

From his position hiding in the bushes below Kōryū sighs in relief. _There was no way that the two children were going to succeed in their plan, but he couldn't think of anything to convince them not too try without sounding like he wanted them to suffer._

And so another of the young Shikon no kami's plans was foiled, all because of a simple detour in time.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _He was so pathetic, rolling around on the ground cussing as he held his crotch in pain._ Kohaku could barely manage to look at him, it was so embarrassing. _He didn't want to do this, he really didn't. But if he didn't… Inuyasha-kun had a sword that could kill with one cut, if things kept on like this, one of his comrades, maybe even Sango-neesan, was going to die because of his complete and utter lack of sword skills._

Kohaku glances at Murasame where it sits in the grass _. I suppose it's a good thing that his blade is just enchanted instead of being made from yōkai. If I swung my sword around like he did, the spirits in it would be so insulted they would refuse to cut anything._ "Look at you. I don't know what you need more, lessons on how to treat a girl right, or how to use your sword right. I suppose Kagome-san will teach you the first whether you want it or not, leaving me with the other. Really, it should be Anesan training you, but, considering how much better I am with a sword than you are, and how much better than me she is; I understand why you wouldn't want her to. But you need something before you kill someone, and if that something has to be me then so be it. I'll teach you with our extra training sword early in the morning so you don't have to deal with them watching." _I wonder if this is why Tousan made us take it…_

Inuyasha shakily rises to his feet, glaring at the kid. "Runt, there is no way in hell your better than I am. I'm over 200 years old and your what 10?" Kohaku grits his teeth, "I'm 11, and if you want me to prove it. I can." He tosses the spare blade at Inuyasha who fumbles as he catches the sheathed blade, almost dropping it. In less than a minute after drawing the sword, he finds himself disarmed and at sword point. He grits his teeth, baring all of them at Kohaku, " **Again.** "

Through defeat after defeat, Inuyasha would learn to use a sword. And though he had started this with the intention of preventing his sister's death, Kohaku would learn something even more valuable than sword skills. He would learn confidence… and patience… lots and lots of patience.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome frowns at the smell of smoke in the air as she exits the well house. She looks around, but finds nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, she heads into the house, "Tadaima!" Kānēshon pokes her head out of the kitchen, "Okaeri! Take a seat at the table, your sister is helping Sofu put up some extra sutras after the excitement we had last night, and your brother is already at the table." Kagome follows her mother into the kitchen. Sōta grins at her as she comes in, "You're here! Just in time for your test's today!" She grins back, "Yep. All thanks to you squirt." He beams proudly at his mom when she sets the last dish for breakfast on the table. Kagome asks her mother, "What do you mean excitement?"

Dekuyume answers as she enters the kitchen with the kannushi, and Kagome is surprised to realize that her sister is in jeans, thigh-high boots, and an old long sleeve shirt. "One of the cursed artifacts that was given to the shrine escaped last night. Fortunately I have anti-fire Sutra in the spell matrix of every building, and Sofu was there or not only would we have had the fire department show up, but we would have no idea how it got out either." Kagome's gapes, ignoring what her sister was wearing for now, "But your spells are perfect! How did it escape?"

Dekuyume sighs, "Imouto, I'm not perfect and you know it. Sofu said he saw a pink/purple stone glowing in the mask." Kagome gasps in surprise, and Dekuyume nods, "The seal on the mask was a little too specific. It prevented curses, but not jewels. I don't even want to know how a fragment of the jewel got here, the work of the kami no doubt. So, while you are in school today showing all your teachers the value of homeschooling, I will be chasing it down. Do remember that you are supposed to have social anxiety problems, a good excuse to keep your nose in a book until the test starts."

Kagome sputters, "But you can't go alone! You should get the others from the past, or I'll go with you!" Dekuyume shakes her head, "We did not waste all that effort studying just for you to skip your tests. Besides do you really want to go into the sewers with me?" Kagome grimaces in distaste, _so that's why she wasn't in her miko clothes._ "If it means you don't have to go alone, I will." She takes a sip of her tea to get the imaginary taste out of her mouth. When she puts her cup down she sees everyone staring at her in surprise. "What?"

Dekuyume chuckles, "We're just surprised that the queen-of-clean, miss three-baths-a-day-if-I-can-get-away-with-it, would willingly venture into a sewer." Kagome pouts, causing her family to laugh. Dekuyume ruffles her hair, "If it worries you so much, I'll shanghai someone into going with me." Kagome smiles gratefully, _there was no way she was going to be able to focus on her tests if her anesan had decided to go alone, but she wasn't sure if her sanity would survive if she had to go tromping through a sewer either._ "Thank you Anesan."

Dekuyume nods, and the family enjoys the rest of their breakfast, catching up on everyone's lives. She walks with first her imouto, and then her otouto as she drops them both off at their schools. She moves through the city unnoticed, just another face in the crowd. No one notices that she makes the entire journey from Sōta's school to a park with her eyes closed, but senses wide open. Eventually she finds her way to a the center of the park and leans against a tree, "So, what's your name?"

In the tree above her Hiei's eyes widen in surprise. _Until she had spoken, he hadn't even recognized her. She was so different from what she would become…her cloak of magic that so characterized her presence was so much weaker than he would have ever expected. And this was the version of her that turned time into a battlefield against the kami?_ And then, she tilts her head back and glances up and meets his eyes, one eyebrow raised waiting for his response. Perhaps _she wasn't so different then, the fire was there, it was just carefully concealed by the fragile human body she wore._ "Hiei."

She nods, and stretching her arms above her head, pulls herself up to sit on the lowest branch of the tree. "I'm going to need your help. The mask was banished from the shrine last night. I followed it as best I could, but eventually it disappeared into the sewer system. Looks like the command sutra works, terrifying freewill destroying thing that it is…"

Hiei stares at her. _Why was she telling him this? There were so many things in her last statement that were supposed to be kept secret… Unless…_ _She knew him._ He watches the smile spread across her face as he makes that realization. His eyes narrow _, she wouldn't make him ask. He knew that game of hers well, either she would give out more information than he ever wanted to know, or she would give out none at all. But he wasn't going to pretend he didn't know her either, that would be wrong on a level he would not consider._

He grunts, crossing his arms, "Hn. You are very frustrating." He is rewarded with her laughter as she drops out of the tree and begins walking to an alley. _He didn't really care that he would be following a miko through human filth. It was only now, after he had increased his speed past that of all other beings his power level that he was no longer covered in the blood, guts, and excrement of the yōkai he slew._ He follows her once he is sure she has reached a secluded spot, moving through the mortal plain so fast that no mundane human ever realizes he was there.

He watches curiously as she uses a sutra to remove the manhole cover as if it were no heavier than a piece of cardboard, "Is there a reason that you don't want the Spirit Detective involved? I doubt the toddler would try to keep the Shikon from you." Dekuyume sighs as she puts on a pair of gloves, and pulls her Yin-yang tantō. _He hadn't seen that blade in a long time, she only ever used the Equilibrium when she needed a blade nowadays…_

Dekuyume enters the sewer, "Shinobu Sensui-kun is the current Spirit Detective from what I have gleaned from the spirits visiting the shrine for healing and spells. From his actions, it is easy to tell that he sees the world in stark black and white colors. To him all yōkai are evil abominations out to ravage mankind, and all humans are kind and good." She holds out her hand, performing a conjure light spell and tosses it up leaving the glowing orb of purple light to hover over her head. She closes her eyes to sense the Shikon fragment, and compare it to the mental image she had of the sewer map that the internet had given her last night, "Frankly I don't want anything to do with him. I have enough problems of my own to deal with, I don't have time to force a stubborn boy to acknowledge the truth."

Hiei nods, "There is no such thing as good and evil, only people and the sum of the things they are willing to do and endure in pursuit of their goals." Dekuyume smiles as she begins to walk down the sewer "Yes." They walk for nearly half an hour in silence before coming to a junction, the mask was waiting for them. Dekuyume studies it. It was small, only about the size of a human, no doubt it had gained mass from all of the insects and the rats that had been oddly missing from the sewer.

She would never admit it, but she had been worried. She had known exactly what the mask was the moment she had touched it in her storage house cleaning spree. She had also recognized the note that had been left underneath it. In her own handwriting, she had read about the mask, and Kagome no kami's demand that no human be harmed by it when it activated. Dekuyume would admit that she loved her family, but as much as they had taught her, she still cared very little about everyone else. She would have been content to simply rely on the barrier around the shrine to protect them, while everyone else outside was at the mercy of the Noh mask.

Considering that the mask was a matter absorbing carved piece of wood with a third of the Shikon no tama embedded in it, that mercy was non-existent. Dekuyume had sighed, _while Kagome no kami was worried about them because they were people, Dekuyume was willing to protect them for another reason entirely._ _The mask was extremely dangerous, though it appeared to be a pathetic excuse for a yōkai at first glance. Memories were stored both organically in the brain, and spiritually in the soul, the mask would have gained information with every human it absorbed. All it would have taken was one human overly skilled in strategy, and it would have become quite a trial to defeat the amorphous black cloaked mask._ This mask, with only rats to power its intelligence, would prove to be a far lesser threat.

So Dekuyume had invented something new, something that no one had ever managed before, though countless sorcerers had tried in the past. With the precision of a modern day computer, and an image editor, she had managed to draw out a spell array that hacked into a yōkai's magic and used the pathway to rewrite their will. _With the right command it destroyed their free will, turning them into little more than puppets. In another life she had managed to do something similar with a combination of corrupted Shikon shards, and sorcery meant to confuse the senses. But the person had always retained their will, thus allowing them to break free if their will was strong enough._ After printing it out, she had deleted it from the computer. _The paper sutra was far more terrible than her previous method. Once it activated, it dissolved into the space between the body and soul, without the assistance of an afterlife representative, there was no escape._

Dekuyume walks forward towards the mask and it lunges for her. She merely holds up her tantō and allows it to impale itself on the blade. It dodges around her at the last moment, and begins fleeing down another tunnel. It never makes it, Hiei's speed is too great, and he promptly slices the mask in half. His katana returns to its sheath before the mask even has time to split and fall into the muck of the sewer floor. Dekuyume nods to him gratefully, _she may have been exposed to far worse things than Tokyo sewers in her past lives as an adsorption yōkai, but that didn't mean that she wanted to spend countless hours chasing it through them._

She walks over and picks up the Shikon fragment. It turns pitch black at her touch. She smiles wryly, _no matter how many things changed, some thing's always remained the same._ She wraps it in a silk cloth she brought along just for this purpose, before holding it out to Hiei. "You should keep a hold of this until we're ready for it, no need to invite trouble just yet." He stares at her. "You would trust a forbidden child with it?"

Dekuyume looks at him as if he were being silly, and he considers the fact that he probably is. She places it in his hand, before very gently tapping him on the forehead over his bandana covered Jagan eye. "You know very well that there isn't a damn person in the world capable of holding on to the Shikon the way you are." And even though he had told himself that she wouldn't make him ask, he found himself asking, "How… How much do you know?" She ruffles his hair, responding, "Everything, of course." _Why was he not surprised?_

He shakes off her hand and fluffs his hair back into its gravity defying shape. He would complain and ask her to stop, _but after the time she had confessed to doing it because she had spent too many lifetimes without positive touch as a child… no one had ever asked her to stop_. He is left grunting, "Hn." She just grins before heading to the exit of the sewers. He stares at her as she leaves.

Unable to leave it there, he calls after her "How?" She looks over her shoulder at him, one eye as red as his visible, gleaming in the glowing orb overhead, "Magic." She disappears from sight and he remains there staring wide-eyed in the darkness. _At least now he knew why he had never been able to sneak anything past her._ He shakes his head, and disappears off in a blur of black, off to find a place to take a bath, before dealing with the fragment of the jewel left in his possession.


	48. His First Adventure

Chapter 47: His First Adventure

She was freshly cleaned from her scrub down after the muck from the sewers, one foot poised to settle into her cherry blossom scented bath, when she felt it arrive. Waiting for a moment before realizing that there was no pulling at her heartstrings, meaning that one of the other shrine keepers would be called to duty, she relaxed into the soothing water of her bath.

Her whole body was covered in bruises, most were the sickly yellow-green of old bruises, but many were the dark purple-black of fresh bruises. Without the the disguise-sutra she normally kept tucked against her chest with her bra, several small bruises on her face and hands could be seen. _It would be a while yet, before the internal bleeding managed to get so bad that she died. She still had weeks of tender bruises, exhaustion and fatigue before it claimed her life. Normally the disease was treatable, and people who had it lived full and complete lives. As always the kami and their curse did not leave her that option._

Dekuyume sighs as she rises from her bath, feeling it leave, her otouto following along behind. If she hadn't known that the Soul Pipers only took the souls of dead children to their afterlives after they accepted their deaths, she would be worried. This breed of yōkai belonged to quite a few kami as part of a combined effort to ease the burden on the various types of soul reapers, ferriers and collectors.

 _No one found it easy to deal with dead children._

The Soul Pipers appeared harmless, but in reality, they were one of the most powerful yōkai breeds that had ever existed. It shouldn't have been a surprise, considering all of the supernatural things that were more than willing to eat an unattended soul. They had no flashy moves, or colorful transformations. They had only their eyes. When they were open, they could open gates to any afterlife they wanted. The gate would open right beneath your feet and chains no one but a kami could break would pull you in. Needless to say, the yōkai kept their eyes closed unless they had no other choice.

Finished dressing herself in her miko garb, and disguise-sutra in place, she left the bathroom. Entering the kitchen, she spots Kagome talking excitedly with Kānēshon. Dekuyume walks over and kisses her mother on the cheek, "A yōkai came to the shrine for help." Kānēshon nods, "Yes, Sōta-kun told me that he would probably be out after curfew tonight. Are you going to keep an eye on him?" Dekuyume nods and Kagome hops up from her seat, "Me too!" Kānēshon watches her two daughters head out into the night with a fond smile. _Perhaps she could make oden for breakfast in the morning, to help her son celebrate his first adventure. There would be many more, after all, he was a kami's child too._

The two sisters followed their brother around the city that night. First as he snuck into the hospital to visit one of his friends. The boy had been in the hospital comatose for nearly a year after a fire had burned his apartment down. And then a whirlwind of emotion struck when he met Mayu, the ghost of his friends older sister who died in the fire.

While it was easy for the two sisters to realize that in Mayu's jealousy over her brother sealing their mothers attention, she had forgotten all the good times she spent with her family. It was not so easy to stay back while Sōta spoke with the spirit under the bright gold of his glowing light spell. Even now, a year after her death, she was still an angry child throwing a fit. She had so many misconceptions, and because of them, she had been using the power she gained as a spirit, to try and kill her little brother.

Years ago, when the first ghosts started showing up on the shrine for aid, Dekuyume had explained several of the things that could happen to a soul after they lost their connection to the mortal plain. Because of that Sōta had known exactly what was happening to Mayu as the nearly invisible chain that bound her to her brother slowly began to corrode and eat itself. If the last link in the chain over her heart was lost, she would become a hollow. There were only two things that a Soul Piper could do with hollows, either it could judge the soul irredeemable, and banish it to _The Hell_. Or it could send it to _The Hueco Mundo_ where it would grow and fight and even eat others of its kind until it found its way back onto the mortal plain where it would hunt and eat souls.

Since a Soul Piper's only option was to keep sending the hollows not fit for _The Hell_ back to _The Hueco Mundo_ endlessly, it was a good thing that incursions were extremely rare. As a result of the actions of countless Soul Pipers around the world, only a single shinigami from _The Soul Society_ was necessary to protect the entirety of the mortal plain.

Kagome almost readied her bow several times throughout Sōta's adventure, but Dekuyume had remained calm, sure in her otouto's ability to handle this. Though, even she would admit that she had considered interfering, things had looked like they were going to get ugly when Mayu's mother gotten involved. In the end, Sōta was able to make Mayu see the truth, and go with the soul piper without further problems.

Much to his surprise, Sōta was left staring up at the hospital as Mayu's mother ran inside, called by the doctors. His friend Satoru, without the burden of Mayu's soul chain, had awoken from his yearlong coma.

The two sisters walk up, and Dekuyume ruffles his hair while Kagome cheers, "Good job squirt." Dekuyume adds her purple light to his gold. Kagome grins, and after quite a bit of concentration, manages to conjure her own oversized, slightly misshapen, bright pink one. The three orbs of light orbit each other as the siblings walk home and Dekuyume smiles as Sōta animatedly recounts his adventure, unaware that they had watched the whole thing.

 _There was so much light everywhere she looked now. She would never be able to walk in the dark again._


	49. Her Funeral

Chapter 48: Her Funeral

The miko were still in the future, and Sango and Kohaku were entertaining the fox and thunder yōkai. He was alone, sitting on the roots of the sacred tree. Inuyasha looks up at the night sky _, it was the night of the new moon. Once upon a time that meant that he would be spending the night as a human, his father's yōkai blood asleep for the night. He used to be so afraid, hiding from everyone and everything in the smallest hole he could find. But, he had been human for weeks now, and the fear was nowhere to be found._ Inuyasha watches the sun rise with much emotion. As its bright light hits his pitch black hair, he is forced to accept that it will not be so easy to become a half-demon again, and troubled by the fact that he may not even want to.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome stares at the clothing she had spread out all over her room. _Yesterday, when she had finished with her tests, she had run into Hōjō-kun, literally. It hadn't been an accident either if the giggling she could hear was any indication, giggling that sounded suspiciously like her three friends. Hōjō-kun had apologized profusely for running into her. Then he had said he wished that there was something he could do to help her, but his parent's medical supply store didn't carry anything that would help with anxiety. Timidly he had asked if she was feeling well due to the stress of the tests, and if she would consider going out with him on a date the next time she felt up to being around people._

Charmed, and wishing that she could feel something for him, she had said that she was feeling better that day and would like to try going on a date with him tomorrow. So now, after breakfast today, instead of returning to the feudal era, she had an early morning date with Hōjō.

"Imouto." Kagome looks up from the outfit she had finally chosen to see Dekuyume standing in the doorway. "May I come in?" Kagome nods and Dekuyume enters, "I managed to get the Jewel fragment from the mask yesterday. Because of how much trouble it would attract, I've given it to someone who's will the jewel cannot corrupt. Hiei-kun may be a fire-ice hybrid yōkai, but he is honorable, and has no need for the jewel. He will return it to us when we are ready to put the jewel together once more."

Kagome gapes at her sister. _She had completely forgotten about him!_ "I met that fire and ice yōkai at the park across from where I sometimes have an afternoon snack with my friends. Not only did he talk to me without panicking because I'm a miko, he also said that he was visiting me! I was confused, and he said that we hadn't met yet before running off! Do you think that he is a yōkai that we will meet in the feudal era?" Dekuyume just nods, _cutting close to the truth aren't you Hiei-kun?_

She has a wide grin on her face as she leans in to whisper in Kagome's ear, "It's too bad you are busy getting ready for your date with Hōjō-kun, Okaasan made ōden for breakfast." Kagome squeals and runs past her sister and into the kitchen.

Kānēshon turns around from where she is cooking to see Kagome sitting at the table, bright eyed and bushytailed in her chipmunk themed pajamas. Moments later she hears the kitchen door again and finds an equally bright eyed Sōta at the table next to Kagome. _I imagine that if they were puppies, their tails would be going a mile a minute as they stared up at me with wet soulful eyes. It was a ridiculously cute picture._ Dekuyume enters the room, with the Kannushi following. Everyone is seated at the table and served. The two eldest members of house Higurashi are enjoying a more normal breakfast while the three children eat ōden.

Between bites, she catches Dekuyume staring at her. _Surely she hadn't noticed already? Oh, who was she kidding, of course Deku-chan had._ Dekuyume finishes her breakfast before she says anything, "Is Otousan recovering from his schism and sleeping-god enchantment in the yōkai sanctuary?" Kagome and Sōta look up in surprise, though each for a different reason. Kānēshon can only nod, while her Sofu just looks at Dekuyume with pride.

Sōta stares at his eldest sister, "How did you know?" Dekuyume reaches over and ruffles his hair, "The journal did not contain a copy of my past memories, but of my future memories. There are a lot of things that I can't talk about, I hope you understand, there is a plan in motion that is far too important to risk."

Kagome pouts while Sōta, Kānēshon, and the kannushi all nod in agreement. They had heard of the plan from the Kagome-chan that was the kami of time travelers, hadn't that been quite the surprise? They would not want to risk saving Kagome-chan from the plans of the kami so far in the future, just so that they could know. Dekuyume rises from her seat and puts her plate in the sink, she kisses everyone on the cheek before saying, "Well I'm going to grab the supplies I got, and be off to the feudal era. I will see Kagome-chan after she is done with her date, and the rest of you when we come back for her next tests." She leaves the room as she hears her mother explain what she can about Kiyoshi before beginning to grill Kagome on her date with Hōjō. She didn't even feel guilty about it. _After all, if their relationship was too easy, it wouldn't be worth anything._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

When Dekuyume reaches the village, she finds it in chaos, with the villagers surrounding a weeping Kaede. It is Sango that tells her what happened. "Last night someone stole the ashes of the miko Kikyō from her grave." Dekuyume is not happy to realize that the ogre-witch Urasue was preparing to resurrect Kikyō. _The sorceress would be disappointed to find out that_ _her_ _soul has already been reincarnated, and she would not get the chance to call it from Kagome-chan._ "Sango-chan, I am afraid I'm going to have to ask you to watch the children for a little bit longer while I go have a sorcery fight with a witch." Unwilling to get in the middle of a fight like that, Sango only nods, _the most she wanted to do with magic was use her chi to strengthen her body, there were too many things that could go wrong with magic otherwise._

Dekuyume left their supplies in the village, only her bow, quiver and daggers went with her. Spells, blurred through her mind as she marched right up to Urasue's atelier, suspicious of the lack of protective barriers and enchantments. There were no spells or traps guarding the doors, nor were there any in the hallway that led to where Dekuyume could hear Urasue commanding Kikyō to move. Standing outside the door at the end of the hallway, she hears Urasue cuss as she realizes that Kikyō's soul was already spoken for, and begin mumbling an herb mixture that allowed for a soul to be freed from a body without killing it. A single glance at the door with her blood red eyes is enough to tell Dekuyume that there are no protective spells on this door either, Urasue hadn't even bothered to close it all the way behind herself.

 _The witch was sloppy, let the insult of an ignoble death be her punishment._ Dekuyume readies an arrow, and gently toes the door open. Urasue dies before she ever realizes that someone else was there. A holy arrow had carved a perfect circle through her brain. Dekuyume walks over and purifies the rest of the ogre-witch off of the mortal plain. _So much for a battle of magic… This had not been a fight, it had been an assassination._ As she watches the magic and soul return to their kami, she searches inside herself, and finds nothing.

There is no regret or remorse, nor is there any triumph. She felt nothing. Some would say that was the greatest tragedy, to take a life and not care, but as far as she was concerned it was just another thing she had done to protect her family, and would never regret that.

Dekuyume turns and goes to stand before the still golem in Kikyō's form. She stares for a moment, _remembering_... With a tired sigh, she removes her white kimono jacket revealing the spaghetti strap tank top, she wore underneath, and the straps of her bra underneath that. _It was hardly traditional, but it was_ _much_ _more comfortable. The villagers would get a shocking eyeful no doubt, but she wondered what would surprise them more, what she wore, or the bruises that patterned her skin._

The darkest bruises were in the curious shape of even lines running up and over her shoulders, a perfect match to the backpack straps she wore, and little tiny circles where the weight of the children rested when they asked her to carry them. _The disguise spell only covered her hands neck and face so save magic, and she hadn't brought anything along to modify it…_ She takes the disguise sutra off, planning to blame the bruising on the hypothetical spell fight she just had with the witch if anyone asked. She adjusts the bow and quiver on her back, and slides the knife sheaths to the small of her back.

Gently, she wraps the kimono jacket around the golem, even though she knows that without a soul, it's just a pretty funerary urn for a woman who died from her own stubbornness. _Though she wasn't really one to talk, how many times had she died now because she couldn't be bothered to care about whatever malady was affecting her?_ Carefully Dekuyume carries the golem down into the village as it goes about making lunch. Even though the villagers reach out to take Kikyō, _in the end there was only one person she would allow to take her precious burden._

Inuyasha is silent for once, as he gently takes the golem from her arms, careful to keep her covered in the strange miko's kimono jacket. His eyes meet Dekuyume's when he spots the dark purple bruises left behind in Kikyō's wake. Neither speaks, but a silent acknowledgement passes between the two of them. Kaede, teary and sniffling ,thanks the darkest miko she had ever met for retrieving Kikyō's ashes before the witch could harm her soul.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome sighs as she climbs out of the well in the feudal era. _It was disappointing. The date was perfect in every way, he was kind and attentive... She kind of liked him, but something was missing and she didn't know what. She didn't want to be cruel and string him along, he didn't deserve that, but she didn't want to let him go either…_

She hears a cry of mourning from the village. Even here on the path to the well, she can hear them singing in unison about the tragedy of a priestess dying so young and beautiful. _Oh… oh no, anesan died again, and the villagers are preparing her funerary rites! Wait! Don't cremate her! She's going to be fine in a little bit!_ She runs the rest of the way into the village, only to hear them name the dead miko, Kikyō. She stumbles to a halt out of breath and after catching it, she walks to Kaede's hut. _Wasn't Kikyō the name of Kaede-obaasan's sister?_

The villagers let her pass and she spots her anesan standing next to Inuyasha with her kimono jacket missing. She walks up and Dekuyume smiles softly, Kagome gently touches a bruise, looking at her questioningly. Dekuyume nods, responding, "A curse. I will take care of it later." Kagome knows what she really means. _This was the work of the kami and Deku-neesan was going to hide it later. But… she shouldn't have to._

Kaede spots her, "Kagome-chan, will ye help an old woman lay her sister to rest once more? Surely with ye power in the grave, none shall try such a despicable thing again." Kagome agrees and begins helping her. _She feels odd when she looks at Kikyō-san, as if someone was walking on her grave. She will be glad to never have to deal with this feeling again._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

In the quiet of the night, as everyone else sleeps, Kaede returns Dekuyume's kimono jacket. "I thank ye. I…" Dekuyume only nods, "Nothing else need be said." As she puts the garment back on Kaede asks about the symbolism behind the picture on her shirt. Glancing down, Dekuyume realizes that she is wearing her favorite undershirt. There was an equilibrium over her heart, and on one side was a black magatama and on the other a white.

 _The story of my life…_

Quietly, she explains, "The symbol in the middle is the equilibrium. On the large scale it means that you will see no change in the balance between one side or the other." Dekuyume meets the old miko's eyes as she finishes tying the jacket closed. "On the small scale it means that the two are not in balance because there is no movement and they are not changing, but because something is becoming white and something is becoming black in equal measure."

Kaede takes in the dark miko's words and sees them for what they are. _They are an acknowledgement that on a fundamental level, she is a dark creature, but the possibility always exists for her to act otherwise._ "Thank ye for sharing this truth with me." Dekuyume rises to her feet, "A wise man once said, there are only two mistakes on the path of truth, not starting, and not going all the way."

Kaede asks, "Does this truth in yourself also apply to your relationship with your sister?" Dekuyume pauses at Kaede's door. She is quiet for a moment before she responds, staring up into the night sky. "She is the sun, I am the night, while I will not deny that I have some light of my own, the brightest parts of me are only the reflection of her own. The Higurashi lies between us." Kaede finds that she must know, "Ye are content to never catch her?"

Dekuyume only smiles mysteriously over her shoulder, "As I said, the Higurashi is between us." She leaves before Kaede can ask anything more.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome wakes to the gentle morning light of the feudal era illuminating the plastic of their tent. Almost instantly she finds herself thinking about Hōjō again. Unable to go back to sleep, she gets dressed as her sister sleeps, barely noticing that Dekuyume must have replaced the spell she was using to hide her curse from everyone. She is so out of it, that she doesn't even realize that Shippō and Sōten are curled up on either side of Dekuyume, fast asleep. Nor does Kagome notice Kōryū who is sleeping curled up on a large flat rock next to the zipper for the outside of the tent.

Dekuyume wakes as she feels Kagome moving away. She opens her eyes in time to see her sister zip the tent closed. She sighs, closing her eyes. _She didn't want to get up…_ Her eyes snap open in pain and surprise when something hits the bruise on her hip. She glances down and can't help but grin. _Shippō-kun must be chasing something in his sleep to be yipping like that, tail fluffed up and kicking his feet. It's adorable._ She winks at Sōten who has also awakened and is currently leaning over Dekuyume to watch Shippō dream. Sōten grins back. "Shippō-kun is funny." Dekuyume can only laugh.

Kagome wanders around the village troubled, but eventually her feet lead her out of the village. She snaps out of her haze when she hears a wordless shout from Inuyasha. She hides behind a tree, peeking around it she spots Inuyasha and Kohaku working on their sword skills. She watches him for a moment before smiling and shaking her head in exasperation as Inuyasha is defeated only to rise to his feet demanding they try again.

She leans back against the bark of the tree, eyes wide and hand touching the smile on her face. _It was gone. The worry that had been clouding her thoughts about Hōjō-kun was gone._ Whatever her relationship with Hōjō-kun was missing, she had with Inuyasha-kun. _Even if he was pretty annoying most of the time with his childish tantrums._


	50. Set Free

Chapter 49: Set Free

With everyone awake, no messages from their kin left for the exterminators, and fully stocked up again, their only other option was to see if they could find out where the flying yōkai had gone themselves. Fortunately, as a seasoned exterminator, Sango had traveled quite a bit and knew the easiest path between the largest villages within a few days travel from Edo. Dekuyume asks the group to take a short break outside of the first one. "Kagome-chan, in your backpack you will find some bamboo containers with salt in them, pull them out, we are going to be trading in the village. Talk with Sango-chan and Kohaku-kun. Explain to them that we don't need the best price, but instead we need the most coins. I am going to get us some more water from the river. Shippō-kun, Sōten-kun, let me show you how our water purifier works."

She takes them a little ways away from the others, _truthfully they didn't need the water, but it made for a good excuse to get the children alone to ask them a very important question._ As she hands the first refilled bottle to a waiting Sōten, she asks. "There won't ever be any problem in Edo because of Kaede-san and their previous exposure to Inuyasha-kun while he was a hanyō. But the same cannot be said about the other human villages we come across. What do you want to do about them? We have several options, but I thought I should see what you wanted to do before suggesting them to the others."

The two children look at her in naive confusion and she only raises an eyebrow in response. _She knew very well that they were mature enough for this conversation._ Kōryū is silent as he lands next to Sōten, looking up at his mistress beseechingly. Dekuyume is silent as she waits, and slowly the two lose their fake expressions. Shippō crosses his arms and sits on the ground in his thinking pose. "It's a problem. When we're grown up, they'll be scared of us because humans are afraid of things they don't understand. It's stupid because none of them ever try to learn. But right now we're just kids, so they won't be scared, they might even try to hurt us."

Sōten nods in agreement _, once, when she had first learned to fly, she had been so eager to join her brothers that she had gone to a human village that they were attacking. Exhausted, she had fallen from the sky into a farmers bales of hay on the outskirts of the village. The farmer had not been kind, and she had been left bruised and bloody unable to defend herself in her exhaustion. Kōryū had gotten Hiten-niisan, and she had fallen asleep in his arms. When she had gone back to that village to get her vengeance, she had found only a deep crater in the ground where it once stood._

Shippō glances over at his playmate, "What do you want to do Sōten-kun?" She just crosses her arms and shakes her head, "I am the last thunder yōkai of my tribe, I will not shame my ancestors by pretending to be human, or pretending to be ensorcelled into the miko's bidding." Kōryū shouts wordlessly with joy, and Shippō nods, "Yep! It just wouldn't be right to pretend outside of a fox-game!"

Dekuyume considers the disguise sutra she wore, how she tried to keep her aura tucked inside her body at all times, and the minor perception filter she used to hide the color of her eyes. "Not even if it will guarantee your safety?" Shippō frowns, "How will we ever be strong enough to stop pretending, if we always hide because of something that _might_ happen?" Dekuyume stares at him for a moment. _Out of the mouths of babes…_

She smiles softly and reaches out a hand to ruffle his hair. Shippō pouts, batting away her hands and smoothing his hair. "Hey! Anesan! You messed it up! It took me forever to get it just right!" Sōten just giggles, "You're such a girl." The fox pouts. _No fair, why is she allowed to pretend to be a boy, but I'm silly because I like having my hair in a nice foxtail with a bow._

Dekuyume looks up at the sky, using her hand to block out the brightness of the sun. _How long had it been… since she had started pretending one thing or another. Was it as Dekuyume, when she hid the truth of the journal and its effects on her? Sure, she had made her confessions to her family and confidants, but had she ever truly shown them herself? Or was it as Naraku when she hid in her armor made of the bodies and souls of others. She may have never have lied about the nature of her existence as an adsorption yōkai, or her human heart courtesy of Onigumo, but outside of battle, she had gone to great lengths to keep strictly to a human form, going so far as to hide in the cellar when forced into her native form by nature and magic…Perhaps it had been as Magatsuhi who had hidden his heart so long and so well that the only way he had to speak to_ _her_ _was with violence…_

She looks away from the sun to find the children and the little dragon staring at her in curiosity. She smiles gently, closing her eyes. "Fair enough. No hiding then, no matter how difficult it gets." She takes a deep breath, and as she exhales, _she lets it go._ She stretches her hands to the sky, _her magic rushes from her body and follows the motion_ the sensation leaves her arching her back in ecstasy from the release of tension she hadn't even known she had been carrying. _She sets it free,_ and loses herself in it. She takes a second deep breath, relaxing back into a neutral expression. Her third breath finds her settling into this form that had been hers for 22 years, as if it were brand new. Her eyes open slowly, _unfettered by her own self imposed restraints._

She finds the children staring at her in awe. She smiles serenely, "No more pretending." They can only nod, and as she feels Kagome begin to rush over to their position, she takes the last empty bottle from its spot next to the river. "Now, just in case anyone asks, this is how you use it." They watch intently, and just as the bottle fills, Kagome bursts into the clearing. "Anesan! Are you ok?! I felt your magic…" Dekuyume sighs. _Have I really spent so much time hiding, that feeling my magic, something so intrinsic to my existence, is so strange that Kagome-chan thinks it is a sign of danger?…_ She looks up and smiles, "Yes, I'm ok. Everything is going to be fine now."

Catching sight of her sisters deep red eyes she looks around confused. "Huh?" Smiling wryly Dekuyume rises handing the water purifier and the bottle of water to Sōten and walks over to her sister. She places her hands on her sister's shoulders. Kagome stares up at her sister. _It was as if a weight had been lifted from her anesan's shoulders, she stood so much taller than she had this morning. And her smile… Deku-neechan smiled a lot, but this one… this one was so much more peaceful than the others._

The rest of the traveling group approaches and Dekuyume moves around Kagome, "The children and I have decided that no matter the trouble it brings us, we will not to pretend to be anything more or less than what we are. The humans and yōkai we come across will just have to take us as we are. You shouldn't pretend either, as Shippō-kun so brilliantly pointed out, we will never be strong enough to stop pretending if we always hide." Kohaku and Sango have a silent conversation between each other, broken only by the soft purring of Kirara as she snuggles into Sango's neck from her position on her shoulder.

Kagome grins and turns around, lifting the back of her shirt. "Take it off for me?" Dekuyume simply reaches out and runs her finger across the ink spell on Kagome's lower back. The ink-spell fades to nothing. Kagome gasps, and her knees buckle as her magic is set free. Dekuyume catches her as she falls, pulling Kagome's back into her chest. In such close proximity, the super massive rolling cloud of Kagome's magic, and the glass smooth mantle of Dekuyume's magic are forced into contact. Their natures were opposite, but their love for each other was greater than nature. There was no violence or pain where yōkai-purple-black met holy-pink. Like oil and water, they touched, but did not mix.

Kagome tilts her head back, laying her arms over her sisters where they rest loosely around her middle. She smiles, "You know. When you're not doing anything with it, your magic reminds me of that night we all stayed up late to watch the lunar eclipse with Tousan and Kaasan." Kagome closes her eyes as she remembers, the smile never leaving her face. "It was so dark when the earth hid the moon from the sun, I remember: I was so scared because the moon looked so red. And then, all the fireflies began to glow, and we danced with them until the light came back again." Her brown eyes open as she beams at Dekuyume, and as always, no matter what life she is living, no matter how far into the darkness she has gone, or how close she is to the edge of madness… _she can do nothing but stop and marvel at_ _her_ _light, and the kindness she gives to everyone she meets._


	51. You are not Welcome

Chapter 50: You are not Welcome

There wasn't much to say after that. They simply packed up the water bottles and water purifier, grabbed Kagome's backpack, let Sango and Kohaku manage the salt and finished making their way to the town. If Kagome was _literally_ glowing with happiness, and the two exterminators looked like ninja in their armor instead of the peasants they normally pretended to be when they traveled; no one said anything. Kirara mews from her position curled up in Sango's arms.

Dekuyume smiles as Shippō leaps onto her shoulder and sticks his tongue out at Sōten who is flying on her own mini-cloud next to Kōryū. Dekuyume leads them into the village. Her magic was too refined to give her a visible aura like Kagome, nor could she afford to spend it as heat and light. _It was very expensive to convert her yōkai-characteristic magic into miko-usable magic. It took the entirety of the magic produced by her super massive soul to produce enough miko-usable magic to fill a teacup._ With a start she realizes something… _without a hanyō form and consequential human night to deal with, Inuyasha-kun was the only member of the group who hadn't been hiding anything… how strange._

As the group enters the village, the locals stop in their tasks, Sango and Kohaku approach a merchant and begin to trade the salt for coin and information. Kirara jumps out of Sango's arms and slinks back and forth between Kagome's legs. While Kōryū, curious about the trading habits of humans, leaves Sōten to watch the exterminators trade. Kagome giggles and picks the two tailed cat yōkai up, cuddling with her. "You make me miss my cat Buyo."

Dekuyume takes in the town, keeping an eye on the children next to her and making special note of the expressions on everyone's faces as they realize that they are all a single group and not people who traveled together for safety from bandits and yōkai. This was one of the larger villages, possessing both a local mercantile and an Okiya. She spots movement out of the corner of her eyes. She keeps her face forward but tracks the black and purple monk's robes as they leave the Geisha's boarding house. _There was only one monk living in this era that would dare go into their boarding house instead of visiting them at their Teahouse. He would not harm the yōkai in their party, so he was not a threat in that regard. It was only the women in their party who had anything to fear._

"Beautiful maiden, will you do me the honor of bearing my child?" Her lips curl in distaste as she hears his voice. _Just as insulting, and demeaning as ever._ Sango screams, "Pervert!" and there is a loud crash as he is pummeled by Hiraikotsu. She glances over and notes that Sango's knuckles are white where she grips the hand strap for her weapon. _Good. While she had never cared for the exterminator, she knew that the woman could do_ _much_ _better than this sick wretch._ She can feel it in the air, the moment that the monk realizes who they are. _He was a good actor. Had she never spent time in the void, she would never have known that he was a spy. The grandson of Miyatsu had died in childbirth with his mother. It was only after the kami had decided to send Kagome-chan back in time and everything was repeated that the boy had lived._ _To be fair, she was the one who had left them that opening._ She turns and glares down at the stunned monk with a lump on his head from Hiraikotsu. _It was fitting that Miyatsu be reincarnated as his own grandson._

Miroku is taken aback by the venom in the third reincarnation's eyes. _When Buddha-sama informed me that I could find a way to be freed from this curse bound to my soul, if I spied on some people on a quest, I took it. It meant that I had to give up my nice cushy life as an artist living off my parents money and coming to live the life of a feudal era monk. Besides the fact that they could all use a bath, pretty women could be found here in the past too. And they were_ _much_ _easier to boot!_ He rises to his feet and picks up his staff _. But if it frees me from this black hole in my hand, it would be worth it. And no evil soul in miko garb is going to stop me!_

Obstinately he meets her gaze and she steps in front of her sister before glaring right back at him with all of the vitriol she can muster. _There was no way, in_ _any_ _level of hell she was going to put up with him! She would never allow Kagome-chan to be put in the vicinity of a rapist!_ "You will stay away from us you sick bastard." Kagome stares at her sisters back. _Never. Never had she seen Deku-neesan so protective. Sure she may have lost her temper once with Hōjō-kun when they were young, but it hadn't been like this… Just who was this monk to make her sister hate him so?_

Completely forgetting that they are in the middle of a village, Miroku unleashes the wind tunnel in his right hand. _How dare that abomination call him sick! He was the one who was responsible for cursing him! Plans of the kami be damned, he belonged to Buddha-sama anyways. He was going to kill this monster with his own curse!_

Dekuyume grits her teeth, snapping her arms out, one to grab each of the children before the monk murders them. _You fool!_ _How dare you point the wind tunnel at my family!_ Dekuyume slides forward a few feet when Kagome crashes into her back. Kagome lets go of Kirara as she hits. Dekuyume channels her magic through her body, using it to strengthen her muscles and bones and anchor herself to the ground. The tiny cat goes flying past her shoulder, mewling in fear, too disoriented to change size and fly away, held captive by the swirling winds of the tunnel.

It would have meant the end of the tiny cat were it not for one thing. Dekuyume was already channeling her magic through her body. With the skill borne of two lifetimes as a tentacle-wielding adsorption yōkai, her braid lashes out and snatches Kirara from the air. Kirara digs her claws into the hair, desperate to hold on. Sango's grip on Hiraikotsu tightens, but she is unwilling to lose her companion/weapon to the monk's spell, nor is Kohaku willing to risk getting pulled in by the chain on his sickle. Kōryū blushes where he is held tightly to the female exterminators bosom by her free arm.

Dekuyume may have stopped them from being pulled forward, but Kagome is the one that saves them all. She pushes her magic out of her body in massive quantities, tinting the air pink as it goes. It gets sucked into the wind tunnel, creating a temporary blockage. As people begin to come out of the cover they had taken, Miroku realizes what he had done and rebinds the opening with his rosary.

Kagome blushes as everyone thanks her. _I totally didn't mean to do that… I was actually trying to wrap him in an air tight barrier… though it's probably better this way. He might have killed himself by sucking all of the air out._ Dekuyume comforts the upset children, pointedly ignoring the fact that she had included them in her thoughts of family. Sango, Kohaku and Inuyasha join them, taking up battle oppositions facing the monk.

Gently Dekuyume sets the two children down, and Kōryū flies over to check on his mistress. Kagome tugs on her sister's sleeve after she helps Kirara untangle from her braid safety rope. "Um. Anesan? What kind of magic is he using anyways. It was really dangerous." Dekuyume smiles as Kirara kitty-thanks her before jumping into Sango's arms. Slowly her face looses that smile as she considers the curse on the monk, and the fact that she is the one who gave it to him. She glares at him, and is unsurprised to realize that many of the locals are as well. _They may know nothing about the curse, but they do know how much property damage he just did, and how easily one of their children could have been killed._ _She was going to give them more reason to do so._

"It is a curse, one used by yōkai courtesans to either protect themselves from rapists, or punish them after the fact. The offenders hand is pierced by the curse, and the curse embedded in the soul. It is an intricate curse, it gives the appearance of being bound to a bloodline because it serves as a beacon, causing any other soul currently reincarnating, to be drawn to others bearing the curse."

Miroku remains silent. _The third reincarnation was lying. He knew that he was a reincarnation, he had even been allowed to keep most of the information from his last life, so that he would remember his duty to the kami. But it was only his last incarnation, and the life he was living now that he had been permitted to remember. IF he had committed such a crime against a woman, surely he would know? Especially if what the third incarnation is implying is true._

Kagome frowns, "And this just goes on forever? The crime may be horrible, but no one should have to spend forever paying for something they did once." Miroku is grateful to the young miko. _See! Even your most precious person believes that I should be free! Now you have to release me from this curse!_

Dekuyume glances down at Kagome and flashes her a smile as she agrees, "Yes. Even the yōkai acknowledge this." He is surprised, _she agreed? What kind of trick was this? It had to be one, why else would she agree?_ She continues, ignoring him for the moment. "Given that it would be poor form for courtesans to go around killing overly enthusiastic Dai-yōkai nobles, the curse contains its own release. If the offender repents his actions and does not accost another person for a year, it shrinks in half, completely disappearing at the end of the third year. But if he forces his attentions on them, touching them when they do not want to be touched, the opening grows until finally it swallows him whole. The soul is then sent through the reincarnation cycle, and reactivates at the onset of puberty." She resumes glaring at the monk, "That he is 18 and has not won his freedom from the curse says much about his behavior."

He is stunned. _Surely, surely his grasping the hand of every reasonably beautiful woman he met, and playfully requesting that they bear him a son, his need to peep on them while they bathed and his inability to keep his hands off of their shapely posteriors, was not the cause of the continuation of his curse. Sure, 9 times out of 10 they declined, and at least 2 in 10 took offense, but… one out of every ten agreed... and considering that he asked at least 10 beautiful women in every village he visited… He was doing the world a service, easing the lonely hearts of countless women. The third reincarnation had to be lying, there as just no way… Surely Buddha-sama would have released him from his service, had he done such an unforgivable thing to a woman._

Seeing his doubt she sighs _. It was clear that he had not utilized all of his resources when seeking information on the curse he was under. From the perspective of another person under a powerful curse, it was inexcusable. However, she would aid him, if only so that he was kept away from her._ "Hachiemon the tanuki is your vassal." He nods cautiously in response to her bland statement, shaken out of his shock by her address and she continues, "Tell him to take you through the 1920's Spirit World Gate to Mizutama-san in the demon world's red light district. She is one of the eldest female tanuki he would have access too, and as a yōkai geisha, the spell will be known to her. If he allows you to wear his hat, it is unlikely that you will have any trouble. The only one who hangs out around there that might spot you is Tomoe-san the kitsune. Just don't anger him, and he will leave you alone. I doubt you have anything he wants."

He stares at her for a long moment before he bows and leaves. He would see this for himself, _and if it proved true… if it was true then… then he had died countless times for nothing, and the amorous behavior he had enjoyed for so long… was killing him._


	52. Her Grave

Chapter 51: Her Grave

They visited the two other villages they planned without further incident. Lamentably, it turned out that their whole trip was uninformative, no one had heard anything about the fragment or the flying yōkai. They may have been full of speculation about the third missing piece, but Kagome and Dekuyume had quietly informed their exterminator companions that it was found, well protected, and hidden in the future. The only real benefit that they had gained was the pouch full of coins they had received for the salt.

No, what was truly worrisome was the fact that even an extra week was not enough to bring them word from either the exterminator village, or from the hunting party that had gone to the Hitomi palace. So, the day after they arrived back in Edo, they set out for the exterminator's village. At mid-day, they were still quiet in their worry, causing Shippō to try and break the tension. "Ne! Anesan! Are you all right! I smell blood." She glances down at him as he walks next to her, his tail gives his intentions away as it wiggles in amusement behind him. _Oh, little fox you're far too many tails short to be playing games with me. You expect feudal era sensibilities, and maidenly shyness. You should have expected otherwise, knowing that I was Magatsuhi once._

She stops in her tracks, kneeling down so that she is closer to his height. "I would have thought your father would have covered this when he explained the differences between Dai-yōkai's human forms, and humans, but I see that he has not. Well, one of the primary differences between female yōkai and humans is their reproductive cycles. In humans they are capable of becoming with child year around because of a process called menstruation, while most yōkai, who experience estrus…" Shippō stares in wide eyed horror as the miko explains something he hadn't even wanted to hear from his father! From the other side of Dekuyume Sōten listens with interest. _The miko's explanation made a lot more sense than the stuttering explanation she had received from her brothers. Didn't mean she was looking forward to it though._

She can hear Kagome giggling at his horrified expression in the background as she finishes, "You will find me to be a strange adult, but I sincerely believe that if you are aware enough to ask the question, you are ready for the answer." He nods, _he was never asking her a question unless he really needed to know again_. She grins, "That or I will give you just enough clues to figure it out yourself. You would never learn to figure out anything for yourself if I always gave you the answers." She rises to her feet and winks at Shippō as she walks past him and whispers, "Good game. Maybe next time." He stares after her, _oh!_ He grins, showing his fox heritage, _she was good._ "Hey! Anesan, wait for me!"

As the boy jumps onto her shoulder, and Sōten uses her cloud to sit on her other one, Dekuyume asks a question she had been meaning to for a while now. "If you don't mind telling me, what sort of protections do the exterminators have around their village?" _She knew that they had relied on their strength, their secrecy, and the vantage point they had from their position in the mountains. It had all been for nothing the last time around. A single spell that caused the lookouts to not notice the signs of a massive yōkai horde approaching had been their downfall. Caught off guard and unprepared, they had perished._

She nods at Sango's helpful answer and pauses a moment to remove a pen, paper and a clip board from her backpack. She quickly catches up to the others and begins writing sutra. _It would not be a wasted effort. She had given the village plenty of warning weeks ago when she sent them a coded message with one of their own messenger birds. The spell she had placed on the paper had been released, giving her a small glimpse of the one who had opened it and their surroundings. She knew that they had received it and it had not been intercepted. Naraku may have a larger portion of the jewel than previously, but it just wasn't his style to attack persons of unknown strength in person._

Quietly, she explains to the two children what each symbol she adds means, how it relates to the others she has used in the barrier scheme they were meant for, which ones would work better for them since they were yōkai and some of the common mistakes beginners made when using them. Sōten is mildly interested, she would need to know a little bit about written magic when she was big enough to use Raigekijin, but that would be many years from now. In the meantime, her ancestral spear was currently stored in the protection of the Higurashi shrine 500ish years in the future. Kōryū had been skeptical about that, but had been forced to acknowledge that leaving the spear in Raimei valley, or carrying it around were both equally bad ideas.

Shippō was another matter entirely. His mind fills up with ideas, _written magic was the basis for permanently enchanting objects. He could make so many things with information like this!_ Dekuyume taps him on the end of his nose with the back end of her pen to get his attention. She draws a symbol on a spare piece of paper. "You see this symbol? It's a pretty harmless one, only causing hair to grow quickly." He nods studying it avidly. Using her finger, she smudges the end of one of the characters giving it a wide end instead of a sharp one. "You see the difference right? Do you think that such a small difference in shape makes much of a one in the magic?"

Knowing that she wouldn't be asking the question if it didn't make a difference, he can only nod. She smiles and continues, "That's right, just that little alteration causes all of the hair to grow inward instead of outward, turning a simple prank into a messy lethal weapon. No matter what magic I show you, you will not use it without showing it to me first, so I can check it for mistakes for you." He nods vigorously, _that must be why so few people used written spells, even though they were so versatile. It was sad Tousan gave up his tails so I could be a Dai-yōkai. There was so much he had not been able to teach me because he didn't have hands. That trick that Anesan showed me with hair pins and normal locks was way too cool to pass up!_ Indeed he hid a pair of them in his bow now.

She can almost hear the stress leaving the exterminators bodies as their village comes into sight. She glances up taking in the men and women guarding the gate, and the signs of an old battle. _They were not destroyed then, only too busy rebuilding, healing and keeping watch, to respond._ They are allowed in the village, and the two exterminators run off when they hear that their father and his hunting party had returned to the village over a week ago, and were all with the healers still.

Dekuyume introduces the rest of their party to the exterminators on duty and asks to speak with someone who has the authority to give her permission to wrap their village in a barrier. She smiles indulgingly when Sōten and Shippō ask to go play with the other children kicking around a ball playing a game of some sort. Kirara and Kōryū trail after them, leaving Inuyasha to huff before helping with the repairs.

In the healing cavern, Kei opens his tired eyes to see his beloved children. _They were a welcome sight, one he would never have seen again were it not for the ink-spell. It had been a well formulated trap, knowing that they would have to send their best fighters to aid a damiyō, he had weakened the village. Once there at the palace the bastard had tried to lure them into a false sense of security with the defeat of another yōkai. It hadn't worked, they were two members short of a normal hunting party, and it had left them all hyper sensitive and aware._

Kei had felt the moment the ink-spell activated, slapping at the tiny spider that landed on his neck. _If the sick bastard had succeeded, he would have forced me to slay the very people I was sworn to lead and protect._ It turned into a messy fight after that, it was only when part of the castle collapsed onto the fool who had sold his body to yōkai for power, that they had retreated.

"Naraku has taken the form of Kagewaki Hitomi. The ink-spell protected us, and we fought until we managed to safely retreat. We ran back to the village as quickly as we could to get reinforcements. We must have sent a message ahead, though none of us recalls doing so, because everyone was already prepared for battle. We managed to rest for a few hours before he sent a horde of yōkai to attack the village. He must have used a spell of some sort, to hide them from us, some people have mentioned seeing a Dai-yōkai hidden under a white baboon pelt. He left as we defeated the last one."

Sango reaches out and holds his hand, and Kohaku reaches out to do the same on the other side, stopping to stare in horror when he realizes that he can't. _His father was missing half of his other hand…_ Kei sighs, closing his eyes, finding it much easier to rest knowing that his children were safe. "A serious battle wound to be sure, but your mother is the best healer this village has ever had. I will not die from infection, and I will find other things to do. I am the chief of this village, I probably shouldn't have been spending as much time outside of it as I was."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume speaks quietly with the elder she had been directed to. The situation was grim. The first hunting party was too hurt after making their way back to their village and fighting off the horde to answer another call to aid, and the secondary, tertiary and quaternary parties were also too banged up and exhausted to be much use. There was only one group left, and even though they were the largest party, they could not be spared. They were the only ones in good enough condition to protect everyone else while they healed. The elders had given the two miko permission to set up a barrier, desperate for some source of respite.

Dekuyume hands the sutra she had written to Kagome. "Just pour enough power into them so they glow and stick to the walls. Place one every 3-5 feet in a full circle around the perimeter wall. If there aren't enough come find me and let me know. It's a chain spell, so I can easily make it longer with extra links." She nods to the young slayer who had been instructed to lead her to The Cave. While she could have set up a way for the exterminators to focus their chi on certain points of the barrier to power it, none of them were healthy enough to give it the initial boost it would need to form. There was another power source nearby though.

It had been here, in the caves of the mountain the exterminators had made their home, that Midoriko and Magatsuhi had made the Shikon no Tama. Their crystallized remains remained there even now, each still emitted the aura they had carried in life. Over a millennia had passed and still the whole cave system that served as her grave remained filled with enough holy magic to prevent those with ill intentions from entering.

She hesitates for a moment at the mouth of the cave _. She may have grown and changed since that fateful day, but had she truly changed so much that the residue of_ _her_ _magic no longer found her to be an enemy?_ There was only one way to find out…She takes a deep breath and moves forward. She moves through the caves before coming to stand in front of the tableau.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 ** _What was she doing?_** **They had fought for 7 days now, and he had just managed to pierce through** **her** **armor. Using the two tentacles like hooks, he was pulling** **her** **towards him so that he could adsorb** **her** **.** ** _Trapped in his heart_** ** _she_** ** _would_** ** _never_** ** _leave him to face the world alone again._**

 **There is a sharp pain as something rips itself from his very being. He does not care, nor does he fight or struggle against the crystallization spreading across his form** ** _, there was no point_** **. Already he could feel her spirit leaving, ascending to the heavens as the chains of hell rose to drag him to his punishment.**

 ** _She_** ** _had escaped him again._** **A dark smile spreads across his face as he spots his shinigami.**

 **Perhaps next time** **she** **would not be so lucky.**

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

She hears footsteps behind her as comes back to herself with a sigh. _She was so tired of fighting_ _her_ _, and there was no longer a reason to._ Kagome stares in awe at the crystallized proof of her fight with Magatsuhi. She reaches out and takes her sister's hand. _It was shaking. Poor anesan, proof of her past misdeeds couldn't be easy to see._

"Never again. Right Anesan?"

Dekuyume grips the hand in hers tightly, _as Kagome-chan_ _she_ _had given her everything she had been seeking for so long._ She releases Kagome's hand and claps twice and bows. _It would never end like this again. The plan in place made sure of that , but even if something went horribly wrong and they were once more split apart by time and incarnation, she would not offer_ _her_ _violence again…_ Turning to her sister she smiles bravely, "I promise. Never again."

Climbing the crystal coils of a body that was once hers, she places a hand reverently on Midoriko's shoulder. It is a small mater to redirect the magic into the barrier. Kagome chases the ribbon of energy out of the cave to see it split and touch 6 points on the village walls. Another arcs to the sky and serves as the keystone for the dome as it shimmers into existence. _It was beautiful._ She stares in amazement as the tail end of the ribbon disappears into the barrier and grins at Dekuyume as she too, exits the cave.

They keep their eyes on the forming barrier as they hear the shattering of glass echo from the cave. A powerful wind blows the crystal dust out of the cave shrouding the two of them in a haze as the spell begins its final sequence. The crystal fragments gather together in the center of the exterminator village. It coalesces together into a single crystal prism. It was perfectly clear and uncolored, allowing for a clear view of the Higurashi clan symbol at its center even from their position outside the village.

Dekuyume admires it's magic. _The exterminators may be a little unhappy to have our clan symbol staring them face as it protects them with the barrier it anchors. But she rather liked it, this proof that the sunset was the result of their magic working together._

Without signal they walk back to the village center in comfortable silence and neither one of them looks back the way they had come.


	53. For Want of a Nail

Chapter 52: For Want of a Nail

After completing the barrier, and reassuring the few hanyō and yōkai that lived with the exterminators Dekuyume and Kagome had offered healing assistance to the exterminators master healer. The tiny medicine woman, Kiki, turned out to be Sango and Kohaku's mother. She thanked them, but asked that they keep their strength. It was more important to have fighters available than fully healed, but still exhausted exterminators.

The woman's eyes crinkle as she smiles, "My husband has told us of the ink-spell you have given us, and now you have given us a barrier to ease our burden even further. It seems that we will be in dept to your house for quite some time. Unfortunately with everyone recovering, only my children are in any condition to keep taking requests, I…" Dekuyume spares her the trouble. "You need us to help them since two exterminators are not enough to form a full hunting party. To make matters worse, you can't even guarantee any income for the village even if you do keep taking requests for aid, because you only ask the villages you aid for what they can afford to spare."

Kiki nods, worried for her children, and Dekuyume glances over at her sister, who grins chirping. "Does that mean I can wear armor like Sango-chan instead of the faraday stuff?" Dekuyume laughs, shaking her head. "Come now, surely it wasn't that bad."

Kiki clears her throat as Kagome pouts. "Well, if you don't mind a used set, and it doesn't reject you as a miko… I still have mine from when I was Sango's age. I retired from field medicine when I was pregnant with her, and I never went back so that if anything ever happened to Kei, my people would still have a leader, and my children would still have a parent." _She considers mentioning how inappropriate the young miko's garb was, but did not want to insult her. The exterminator armor may have been formfitting, but at least all of their skin was covered._

Kagome gasps in surprise, _she had mostly been joking… but that armor looked so much easier to move around in… though, what did she mean by reject?_ "Are you sure?" Kiki nods, "Yes, I had meant to give it to Sango, but… It is a secret kept in our clan, I am sharing it with you because of the dept we owe you. Every set of armor and every weapon is made from the yōkai we have defeated. While we are able to purge them of the malice the yōkai had in life, their gentled spirits remain attached. When I tried to give my old armor to Sango, the yōkai inside rejected her, I suppose that they would rather work with a healer. You are welcome to try, provided you are comfortable knowing what you do now."

Kagome glances at Dekuyume, biting her lip. Dekuyume smiles gently, "You won't hurt them if you don't want to, you have a fair amount of control over your magic, and most automatic defenses are triggered by hostile intentions." Kagome grins jumping for joy.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Naraku had finished preparing his spell, having spent a ridiculous amount of time arguing with himself about the best way to go about trapping a yōkai that could transform into lighting. He had set up his trap around the brothers base, and waited a week for them to come back home. _The waiting had been murder on his patience, in order to silence the endless complaining of Onigumo he had decided to check on the news in the town nearest Raimei valley._ From his position at the inn's bar counter, disguised as the 5th son of a lord, traveling the world in search of purpose, he hears drunken men gossiping about the beautiful women who had just joined their village.

Naraku grits his teeth, grateful that his use of the Hitomi's form ensured his face did not randomly sprout appendages due to his emotional state. _The women had joined the village before he had even finished preparing the spell. He had wasted so much time preparing a trap for men who were already dead, and even more time waiting for them to come home._ Disappointingly, when he had cornered and adsorbed one of the women that had been rescued, he only gained knowledge of her ridiculous fear of heights and the knowledge that an exterminator had been part of the group.

He left the village shortly after that. There was no reason to stay. He considered destroying it to ease his anger, but he did not want to give away the fact that he was on their trail. _He would need some way of keeping an eye on his opponents if he did not want this to happen again. But there was no other yōkai, hanyō or human that he would trust to do this for him, if only Ito-chan had lived… That was it!_

The problem in Ito's creation had been space. His soul was roughly 7-8 orders of magnitude larger than it should be, and when Ito's soul had been released from the collective into her new body, her fragments had remained that far apart without any support structures to sustain them. It had caused the flesh he built around her to deform and deteriorate before her soul could anchor to it. She had been both a volunteer, and well liked among many of the souls that made up their collective. _None of them had been happy to see her die and enter the reincarnation cycle._

Even the third of the jewel that he held now, had enough power to compress his soul fragments together removing some of the void space; increasing their density would do him no harm. Then, once the fragments were much closer together, he could oust some of the more annoying souls as incarnations. He grins maliciously, _the hardest part of the whole thing would be trying to decide what precautions to take to prevent treachery._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

After making sure that the armor did not reject Kagome, they set off again. On the way to a village next to a large lake, the exterminator siblings explained the request. They would not explain how it was that a village hidden in the mountains received these requests, but Dekuyume already knew how. She would not speak of it, there was no reason to give Naraku more reason to attack the village. _Without the mirror of seeking, Kanna would be much simpler to defeat this time._

The village they were heading to had recently been besieged by the kami in the lake. Claiming insult the kami was demanding the villagers first born sons, promising to stop flooding their village once his anger was abated. Disturbingly, he was eating them, _whole._ Kagome shouted when she heard that. "There is no way that's a real kami!"

Calming her sister, she agrees, and so do the exterminators. "Yes, we thought that was strange as well. The village headman contacted us the moment that the kami demanded a second boy, and is worried that the kami's anger will continue until every first born boy in the village is dead. He can't do anything overtly, for fear of angering the one causing the floods, so we will be on our own. They are moderately well off, and should be able to spare some food, pottery and cloth for us to carry back home."

It was a simple matter in the end. Using the stealth and evasion skills they hand trained so long for, the exterminators were able to gather information from the village, and scout out the position the yōkai was hiding in. At the very center of the lake on a small island ,was a shrine that they had seen him moving around on. In doing so they discovered something interesting. In addition to the shrine, there was also a sacred rock and a very suspicious sutra stuck to it. The true kami had been sealed inside, and had heard them talking to one another.

The two exterminators had freed her and gazed in wonder at the tiny form she had taken to conserve her power. Carefully, they had returned to the rest of the group with the kami riding on Kirara's back while she was in her kitten form. The kami then explained what had really happened. One of her vassals with delusions of grandeur had stolen the trident that served as her Regalia. Without her only weapon, she had been powerless to stop him. As it was, she was probably going to have to fire the spirit, and revoke his name. _There was just no excuse for allowing the serpent to use him._

They rested for the remainder of the day, and in the darkest part of the night, Kirara transported them all across, two at a time. The two guards never even noticed them, but then, they were merely ensorcelled fish and shellfish. Feeling a powerful magic in the area, Dekuyume waived for them to follow her quietly. His lessons with Kohaku must have been paying off, because Inuyasha seemed to have gained some manner of discipline, and remained quiet through the whole process, even though he had been the one to wait the longest.

They crept down the hallway until they came upon the room that the serpent was lounging in. Dekuyume rolls her eyes as she hears him wondering if the headman's son would taste better than his last meal to yet another ensorcelled lake creature. And then, their good luck streak breaks as Kagome sneezes. The serpent demands that they enter, threatening to unleash a flood if they don't. He spots the true lake kami the moment she enters the room and begins bragging about how easy his victory had been. Unwilling to let a dumb snake yak at him, Inuyasha darts forward drawing Murasame. Sango and Kohaku follow close behind.

The serpent raises the trident and points it at the silly humans rushing at him, preparing to call on the waters to wash them all away. He grins maliciously as he contemplates eating them all one by one as they drown. The water trips the trio up, pushing them back. Carefully, while he is distracted, Dekuyume palms her yin-yang tantō, and with a deft flick of the wrist, throws it through past her falling companions. It strikes true, cutting off his thumb, and forcing him to release the spear. He hisses in pain, forced to watch as the trident is swept away in the very waters it had created, and as the water drains out, it stops right at the feet of the true lake kami.

There wasn't really much for them to do after that. The kami undid most of the damage her vassal had caused, and reassured the villagers that she did not, nor had she ever, demanded the life of a human. Grateful that they had stopped this from continuing before he was forced to decide if he was going to actually sacrifice his own son the way he had asked everyone else to, the headman had given them more goods than they could carry. He had even given them a horse and cart to pull it with!

Taking the opportunity offered by the cart, Dekuyume gives lessons to Kagome, Shippō, and Sōten while they travel. Kagome had a lot of material to cover before her next test, and the two children needed to work on their handwriting. Kōryū proved to be quite the little scholar, he could read very well, but without opposable thumbs, he could not learn to write. With a mischievous grin, Dekuyume gently hit the little dragon on the head three times, triggering his transformation. Promptly handing him his utensils and paper, she continued the lesson.


	54. Human Eating Horse

Chapter 53: Human Eating Horse

With the cart, the trip back to the village went much quicker. The tired could rest, the students could learn, and everyone could rest their backs from carrying their supplies. Upon their approach, they could already see that there was a marked improvement in the state and atmosphere of the exterminator village. They were allowed in easily, and after quickly separating their belongings from those meant for the village, went and spoke to Kei and Kiki in the healing cavern.

The general prognosis for all of the villagers who only had to fight off the horde of yōkai was good, the same could not be said for the three exterminators who had gone to Hitomi castle. They had been exposed to Naraku's miasma and none of their medicines were removing it from their systems. Dekuyume examines one of the pale clammy, unconscious men as Kiki grabs onto Kagome's arm, "Please, does your offer to try and heal them still stand?" Kagome gulps nervously, but nods all the same. "Yeah, it does. It sounds pretty bad though, I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to help."

Dekuyume sighs as she finishes her examination, _it was a very simple thing, to remove Naraku's magic from their systems, after all it was hers too._ Unlike when she was a child, and had combined her magic with playground sand and pollen to attack Hōjō in a fit of pique, Naraku used things that would destroy a body if they were exposed long enough. "The spider appears to be using a combination of magic and every poison he comes across. I have removed the magic, that will deactivate the toxins that need magic to actively harm their recipient, buying us some time. However most of the things that were mixed in with the magic are normal everyday compounds that our abilities will not directly work on. What they really need is a series of detoxifiers." Kiki, stressed from being forced to watch helplessly as her healing techniques fail and her husband dies, bursts into tears. "Used up… They're all used up."

Kagome, teary eyed, gently pats the distraught woman on the shoulders. "Hey, it's going to be ok, even if we have to go all the way back to the future and falsify a ton of medical records. Just take a deep breath and count to ten. Then plan the next step." Dekuyume smiles reassuringly as the woman looks up at the two of them. Next to their father, Sango and Kohaku release sighs of relief and Sango rises to give her mother a hug "Have faith Mama." Kiki relaxes, and instantly an idea pops into her mind. "The Hanyō." Sango leans back and confusedly asks, "What Hanyō?"

Kiki just shakes her daughter off, and pokes her head out of the small cove that served as Kei's healing room. "Prepare a cart to trade with Jinenji-kun!" She leans back in and smiles gratefully at the two miko, "Jinenji-kun is a horse hanyō, in the archives he is listed as a medicinal herb farmer. He's pretty young, only about 40 years old, but if anyone will have the herbs needed for a full detoxification series, it will be him."

It was rather amazing how quickly it all came together after that. Under the supervision of Kiki, a second cart was prepared for the transport of herbs, and loaded with enough rice and salt to trade. They were back on the road within ten minutes. Dekuyume watched Sango maneuver the cart, and occasionally helped Kagome with her homework. _This cart was different than the other flat bed cart they had brought to the village. There was an overhead tarp, setup on ribs attached to the cart. It would protect the herbs from the sunlight and the elements on the return trip._

Dekuyume reaches out and steadies Shippō as they hit a bump in the road, causing the little fox to trip. "Careful kit, if you are going to run around inside the cart, use this opportunity to practice using your tail to keep you steady on unstable ground." He merely grins and nods before resuming his game of tag with Sōten and Kōryū.

Idly she reaches out and checks the strength of one of the ribs before movement at the front of the cart catches her eye. Ironically, she spots the trouble before the horse and the two exterminators talking quietly on the front seat. It takes only a matter of moments for her to draw her bow and string an arrow. It was difficult aiming with the horse rearing in fear, shaking the cart, and intermittently blocking the available paths for an arrow, but not impossible. As she falls to her side, shaken off her feet, she takes her shot.

The bruises on her side and back protest in agony as she slowly sits back up. Kohaku calms the horse, and Sango quickly butchers the weak wolf yōkai that had tried to eat their horse for what parts the village can use. Kagome watches with a mixture of interest and disgust before she is asked to purify the remains.

Unnoticed, a red eyed goddess darts overhead as the cart sets in motion. It was such a small delay, but it was enough to change the course of one man's life.

Instead of arriving in the village before lunch as they had planned, they arrived during it. It was a good thing too, because in their haste to leave, they had forgotten to get more food. At this point they had gone nearly a whole day with nothing but a few leftover granola bars and a bag of beef jerky between them all. There were nasty glares here and there at the non-human's in the group as they purchased a meal. Dekuyume in particular drew some of the worst of them, likely due to the fact that she still wore her miko garb while displaying her blood red eyes. There was also quite a bit of grumbling, but money was money, and the locals were not in any position to turn down paying customers. In the aftermath of Miroku's wind tunnel, the exterminators had managed to get quite a good deal on the salt Dekuyume had brought to the past to trade, so they had more than enough to silence any protestors.

Unwilling to stir up trouble, they got their food and ate in silence, it was only as they finished that they asked the proprietor which direction they needed to go to reach Jinenji's farm. There was more grumbling from three drunken men at the bar after Dekuyume asked, but her unimpressed expression was enough to stun them into silence. _In retrospect, perhaps things would have turned out differently had it been Kagome that asked._ A disguised red eyed goddess watches the group leave, and the brewing storm they leave behind in their wake.

They took the smallest road out of the village proper and went down to the riverside where Jinenji and his aged mother grew medicinal herbs on the farm left to Jinenji by his yōkai father. He greeted them kindly as they came down the road, and his mother poked her head out of the hut for a moment to gauge their intentions. It was easy to see the tension leave the massive man's frame as she harrumphed before returning to cooking their lunch. Shippō and Sōten stared up at the horse hanyō in wide eyed curiosity. "Wow! Hey Jinenji-san! How tall are you? Are you really strong? How'd you get all those scars? Are you ok?"

Dekuyume clears her throat and places a hand on each of their heads, "That's enough. You know better, don't be mean." Kōryū mutters, "Geeze, neither one of you have any manners." Sōten crosses her arms and pretends that she wasn't bombarding the huge hanyō with questions, and Shippō pouts cutely, "Sorry Jinenji-san." Bemused Jinenji shrugs his massive shoulders and squats down to hand the little fox Dai-yōkai a four leaf clover he had found in the field earlier today. "It's all right, the villagers are much worse, and they're never sorry until they need healing herbs." Dekuyume smiles sadly, "Yes, they did not seem particularly open to dealing with non-humans when we stopped there for lunch."

She waives to where Sango, Kohaku, Inuyasha and Kagome have finished unloading the goods they brought to trade. "We are here on behalf of the exterminator village, they have just recently had some trouble and are in need of a full range of healing herbs. The only ones we are in grave need of are detoxifiers, but we will take anything else you have." He looks at the strange red eyed miko in curiosity as she tilts her head to the side, allowing the young fox Dai-yōkai room to jump onto her shoulder. He also notices her nearly imperceptible flinch of pain as the boy lands, he had suffered enough harm at the hands of the humans in the village to recognize long enduring pain when he saw it. He says nothing though. While he may have inherited his father's strength, long face and big eyes, he did not inherit a yōkai's healing rate, and was covered in scars because of it.

Shippō shows Dekuyume the clover and exclaims excitedly, before jumping off her shoulder to go show Sōten. The old woman, finished preparing their lunch, comes out of the hut and examines the goods they wished to trade. Her examination was through, it wouldn't be the first time someone had filled a bag with sand and covered the top with salt or rice to fool them. She had endured this for so long that she is actually more surprised that there is nothing at all wrong with their offering.

Kagome smiles up at the hanyō, "Hi! My name is Kagome, and I am a miko in training. If it isn't too much trouble, could you show me what I need to do to help?" Jinenji is awed by the kindness in the human girl, and her completely genuine offer/request. "You… you aren't afraid of me?" Kagome just laughs and waives her hand, "Actually that's my line, you don't know how many times I've tried to talk to a yōkai only to have them shriek with terror when they realize how strong I am. It hurts my feelings to be honest. How about you?"

Dekuyume crouches down and pulls Shippō into a hug when she realizes that he too has spotted the old woman's surprise. Shippō mumbles into Dekuyume's shoulder, "It's not right. There's no fox-game in that, it's just cruel." She rocks him back and forth as the others load the herbs they are given onto the cart. "I'm glad you can see that. There is a very fine line between teasing and fox-games, and bullying and treachery. A lot of it has to do with cultural differences, but there are some things that everyone should be able to recognize as inappropriate." She sets him down and ruffles his hair, causing him to pout at her. "Hey! Anesan my hair~!"

She hears Sango and the old woman talking as she walks up, "Well, I'll do what I can, but if those fools in the village are too dumb to contact you for help, then I'm not going to do it for them. Let the nasty bugger take them all to hell." Dekuyume raises an eyebrow as the old woman and Jinenji go back into their hut to eat lunch. She asks Sango what the woman had been talking about as everyone gets back on the cart. Sango answers as she steers the cart down another path next to the river that avoids the village. "There is a nesting yōkai nearby who has been stealing villagers when they are alone. Their remains have been found at the edge of the river, and they think that Jinenji-san has been eating them."

Inuyasha scoffs, sitting cross-legged in the back of the cart. "Keh. Who's ever heard of a human eating horse? Typical. Random yōkai attacks village, and instead of going out and dealing with it, the cowards blame the local hanyō." Kohaku grips the reins in his hands tightly, "His scars. They weren't from protecting his Kaasan from yōkai alone so far out side of the village, were they."

Inuyasha looks away, "You got that right, if you really want to know who he got those from, you're better off looking for the culprits in the village we passed through on our way there." Sōten wraps her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold as she remembers the face of the farmer that had attacked her. _Humans always liked to pretend that yōkai were evil, when the real evil could be found in their own reflections._ Gently, uncertain of her welcome, Dekuyume pulls the girl into a hug. After a few moments Sōten wiggles away and Dekuyume ruffles the girl's hair before she huffs and goes to sit with Kōryū.

A red eyed goddess watches as their cart goes over the hill. She jumps up into a tree to watch as the three drunken men from the bar descend upon the farm bearing torches.

The old woman spots them and the burning field first. She rushes towards them armed with her cutting knife as Jinenji runs to the river with a large tub for water. He crouches to scoop up a massive amount of water and spins in surprise as he hears a sharp crack. His eyes flare red, and his body is surrounded in a azure blue aura as he sees his aged mother drop to the ground, her neck clearly broken by the torch in one man's hand. Jinenji drops the bucket into the river, where it floats downstream, forgotten. He tears the men apart in his rage, heedless of the spreading fire.

The red eyed goddess watches as the bucket floats past her down the river. It would pass the group on the road in an hour, causing them to glance downwind and upriver to see the smoke in the air. It was only an hour, but it was long enough for the fire to completely consume the hut and the farm, for the smoke to draw in the curious from the village, and the tromping of many feet to lure the yōkai hunting humans for her hatchlings, to the surface.

The group would carefully turn the cart around and return, but by the time they made it back, it would all be over. Jinenji will have already killed the yōkai with his bare hands and brute strength, never having learned any form of combat before. But in his rage and grief, he would wait until after it had killed most of the humans standing in the burnt remains of his mother and his home.

The red eyed goddess watches as it all transpires, vanishing only when she hears the wheels of the cart coming back over the hill, and Kagome's gasp as she spots Jinenji sobbing in the ashes of his life, contemplating ending it completely. _There was no need to watch the rest, she had seen it once first hand after all._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume watched the horse hanyō for a long moment as Kagome struggled in vain to comfort him, causing herself to cry in the process. _He had just lost everything. If the group walked away now, without a herd, or a home, he would probably take his own life._ Dekuyume felt the same tugging at her heart that she always felt when the barrier around the shrine wanted her to help someone.

She sighs, _she was fooling no one_ , _the sensation was not some part of the magic left clinging to her through The Well of Time, even if she would have liked to pretend it was. It was just her heart, and the feelings that had grown inside of it under the hands of the Higurashi._ She wasn't sure she was happy about it. _There were so many problems that a person invited when they went around helping people left and right, she had been one of those problems once. But what could she do? Even the grass would die if it was trod on too many times, whether the feet were her own or those of others was immaterial. She would have to sit down and give herself some rules later, but for now… For now she would have to obey the emotions in her heart._ "Jinenji-san."

He looks at the strange miko with teary blue eyes. Dekuyume walks over to him. _It was a little exasperating, even sitting hunched down, he was still a great deal taller than she was standing._ "It is my intention to trade a large quantity of spices for a horse and a covered cart and be-spell the two of them so thoroughly that a mountain could fall upon them and they would be undamaged. Unfortunately while I am capable of communicating with horse yōkai, I have no spell that will convey my assurances of safety to a normal horse. Can you do this?"

Wide eyed in surprise he stutters, "I… I don't know. I've never been allowed near the horses that pull merchant's carts." Dekuyume holds out her hand, offering him assistance in standing up. He chokes on his laughter as he accepts her hand, and is surprised when she is able to take on some of his weight. He follows her over to the cart, catching a strange scent in the air. _It sort of reminded him of nightshade foliage and full moon nights at the riverside lit up with fireflies._

She continues as he follows along behind her, "From what I understand, it's supposed to be eas…" She can only grin as she sees him place his hand on the horse's forehead. She can tell the moment he stops focusing on them, and enters communion with the horse. It wasn't that hard really, it was probably the first time they had seen him standing completely straight. Even Kagome must have realized it was working because she smiled triumphantly at her sister mildly glowing with happiness. Dekuyume tilts her head back to measure him. _I am a tall woman at 6 ft even, he is over twice my height, putting him at nearly 15' tall. His shoulders are wider than my arms can reach, putting them at at least 7' wide._

She approximates his weight to 1800lb considering his muscle mass, and begins mentally adjusting the spell array she had been planning since rescuing the water kami. _It would need considerably more point-mass support, and at least triple the space-volume-density ratio she had originally planned…_ She is shaken from her thoughts as Jinenji exits his communion with the horse. Realizing that he is standing, he hunches down so that he is closer to their height. _It made him uncomfortable, leaving them so many places to attack him._

"Clip-clop knows you will do your best to protect him, and he apologizes for panicking earlier when he saw the wolf." Dekuyume nods, gratefully, "Excellent now, I am going to make you an offer, you can accept, or you can decline. The choice is yours, and I will pay you either way." She smiles at Kagome as she hears her sister whop for joy. Jinenji watches the two miko, _pity it wasn't the young one that was the leader of their herd… she seemed to be much nicer._

His attention snaps back to Dekuyume as she speaks, "If you would not mind guarding the children my house has adopted and any injured group members from within a cart laden with miko powered sutra, helping with their care the rest of the time, and general camp maintenance. I would like to make you a vassal to the Higurashi. It would greatly ease the burden on my mind, _and back_ , and allow all available fighters to focus on fighting. I am willing to keep you fed, teach you to read and write, offer lessons on self defense if you are interested, and enchant some pots so that you can grow your herbs in the cart."

He can only blink, staring at her in shock, he stutters out, "You… you would trust me with your children?" Dekuyume tilts her head to the side, one eyebrow raised, smiling wryly, "Children, even human children, are sturdier than the tender leaves of the freshly sprouted herbs. Considering that you were fully capable of tending to those without issue, you will be fine. I'm more worried about trusting _them_ with _you_."

She returns to being serious, "Travel with us to the exterminator village before you make your decision, contrary to what their name suggests, they are actually quite welcoming. If you find that you are unwilling to take me up on my offer, I doubt that they will turn an experienced herbalist away, and the other half a dozen yōkai and hanyō living in the village will help you get over your fear of humans."

She hops in the cart and pulls out materials to help Kagome study, the children to work on their mathematics, and for herself to begin making the sutra needed for a magical cart. She grins to herself as she begins the first sutra. _Though perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a mobile fortress…._


	55. Cultural Differences

Chapter 54: Cultural Differences

The trip back could have easily ended in tragedy, made more painful by the ease in which it could have been avoided. With the cart full of herbs, there was no room for people to sleep inside as they kept moving, so they were forced to stop for the night and set up a camp. Everyone broke off to perform their individual tasks, with Dekuyume, Kōryū and the children fetching firewood, Sango and Kohaku tending to the horse and cart, and Inuyasha scouting the surroundings to make sure that there were no causes for concern nearby. Kagome began showing Jinenji how to safely set up a campfire, and would go to the river to refill everyone's water afterwards. It would be a difficult night, while everyone had eaten at midday, they still didn't have much in the way of extra food.

Kagome halts in explaining stone placement for a camp fire and looks up at Jinenji as his stomach growls loudly. He blushes, and Kagome bites her lip. _I was going to save them for tomorrow morning, but Jinenji-san is so big… he needs them more than I do._ Kagome grins at him and jogs over to her bag, and pulls out some dehydrated, pitted persimmons. Opening the bag for him she pulls some out and hands them to him, "Here, it isn't much, but these dried fruits should help tide you over until we get to the village tomorrow. Jinenji accepts them gratefully, and is moved to tears by her kindness. _It was so strange for a miko to be so kind to someone who looked like him._ Kagome grins and holds up a finger to her mouth, "I'm going to go get the water now if you want to finish putting the stones in place. Your little snack will be our secret ne?" Grabbing the bottles, she then skips out of the camp towards the river.

Carefully setting the food out of the way, he finishes building the base for the campfire. It is only because Kagome asked him to finish with the campfire first that he did not move to eat the persimmons until just as Dekuyume was walking into the clearing with the children behind her. She dropped the wood to her feet and sprinted to Jinenji, just in time to slap them out of his hands. "Did you eat them? Answer me! Have you eaten any of them?!" Jinenji, just scrunches himself smaller, _this miko appeared to be normal at least. Her cruelty was not a surprise. He understood that their food was precious, and until he swore himself to them, he was not a member of the herd, no matter how kind the youngest miko was._ "No, I did not."

Dekuyume nods, picks up the dried fruit and sighs, "Who gave these to you?" Jinenji looks away from her, _she was so kind, he would not tell_. Recognizing his silence for what it was, Dekuyume asked him nothing more. _She knew that she would get nothing more out of him._ _Her_ _kindness had done much the same to her a few times before_. After gently asking the children to finish setting up the campfire, she remains standing next to Jinenji, waiting for Kagome to return.

Kagome returns humming to herself as she carries her bottles of water, but swiftly realizes that something is wrong when she spots her anesan holding the fruit she gave to Jinenji. "Anesan?" Dekuyume sighs, "Kagome-chan, did you give these to Jinenji-san?" Kagome frowns taking in Jinenji's posture, _why was Anesan being so mean?_ "I didn't think it would be a problem." Dekuyume turns to her and shouts, "That's the problem with you! You never think!"

Dekuyume bites her tongue and lets out the rest of her breath on a hiss before speaking in a much calmer voice, "I am sorry. That was unnecessary and harsh. Just… just give me a moment to calm my temper." Dekuyume takes a slow deep breath in and exhales out just as slowly three times. "I know it is not your fault, and most of the blame can be laid at my feet. Weeks ago, when you were worried about how you should behave around everyone, I told you to treat everyone as if they were human unless they specifically asked you for something else. This is good for their hearts and their minds, but it cannot be applied to their bodies. Imouto, persimmons are a tasty healthy treat for humans, but they form a sticky gel in the stomach of horses causing intestinal problems that can become fatal without surgery."

Jinenji's eyes widen in surprise, _he had been wrong, the miko had not been angry because he was eating their precious fruit, but because it was poison to him, no matter how good it smelled._ Kagome's eyes widen in surprise and horror. Dekuyume sighs, "I stopped him before he ate any, so there was no harm done, and even if he had, I am capable of fixing the problem without surgery even if it would leave me drained of magic, haggard and weak for a few days. Truth be told I have epi-pens in the med kit just in case something we bring from the future gives someone an allergic reaction. It's just adrenaline, so it won't hurt anyone, not even the yōkai, and it will give us time to remove or isolate whatever is causing the problem with magic."

With another sigh Dekuyume turns to Jinenji and bows slightly. "I am sorry if I hurt your feelings in my upset." Moved, in that moment, Jinenji chooses to become a vassal to the Higurashi. And when he tells them? It's a tossup between what surprises him more, the fact that when Kagome is happy, she emits so much holy energy that she _glows_ from it, or the fact that being bathed in that light brings not harm, but _peace_.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

In the future, in the yōkai sanctuary, Jinenji suddenly appears, causing Kagome no kami to jump up and give him a hug. "Jinenji-san! It's been so long since I saw you last!" Hearing someone shout her name she pulls back and pats his arm, "Sorry gotta go! See you around." He stands there dazed and confused before he mutters, "But Kagome-sama, you were just at my garden to get some spirit grass yesterday…" Taking pity on him, a red eyed goddess increases her power of existence so that he can see her, "You will have to forgive Kaasan, she is a little behind for a kami." Jinenji can only stare in surprise as the woman blinks into and out of existence. Shaking his head he returns to his cottage, _perhaps some tea would help._ A second red eyed goddess drinking tea chuckles, causing the first to complain about how difficult it is to hold conversations like this.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sighs, _so many cultural differences, basic needs, and simple wants… And only she knew them all. She would have to change that if she didn't want another incident like this to come up._

Dekuyume speaks, "We cannot afford an accident like this to happen again. There is no excuse, we are not enemies, we are comrades and family. If everyone is willing to step out of their comfort zones, we should take some time to go over everyone's differences, both physical and cultural. I will go over the finer details as we go, but for a day, everyone can all learn what it means to be kitsune from Shippō-kun, and we call all learn what it means to be elemental yōkai like Sōten-chan. Kirara can teach us about cat yōkai, Kōryū about dragons, and Jinenji about horse yōkai and the herbs his mother taught him, Sango and Kohaku about exterminators, Kagome-chan can teach us about miko, and Inuyasha can teach us about surviving when the whole world seems to be against you."

He nods at her, grateful that she didn't say he could teach them about dog yōkai. "It won't be easy, I know for a fact that the a typical day in the life of an exterminator is filled with difficult training and attempts to call upon their chi, kitsune bathe in family groups, thunder yōkai go for runs in the middle of thunderstorms, Jinenji probably knows more about medicinal herbs than I do, archery is a lot harder than it looks, cat yōkai have no concept of personal space and…" She sighs, meeting his eyes, "Surviving is not for the faint of heart." Inuyasha blushes, looking away from the group.

Shippō's tail wags in excitement behind him, "And what about Anesan! What will you teach us?" Dekuyume pauses for a moment, "It will not be pleasant, but I can teach you the difference between being human and being humane."


	56. She Was Back

Chapter 55: She Was Back

The group watched with humor as Dekuyume once more spent the trip back to the exterminators village walking and writing out sutra on a clipboard. Once there, the herbs were removed from the cart and either stored or used to begin the detoxification process. Jinenji was introduced to the other non-humans who lived in the exterminator village by Kirara, and Dekuyume once more found herself speaking with Kiki. She had originally intended to trade spices and salt from the future for a covered cart and horse, but when she mentioned what she meant to do with it, Kiki had just stared in surprise at the sheaf of sutra Dekuyume had waived at her in her explanation. "You can make a cart safe from yōkai attacks? Could anyone use this?" Dekuyume nods then shows her the large sheet she had worked on, this one would take the chi a person offered it, and convert it into the right frequency of magic needed to keep the other sutra powered up. That way everyone could do it if needed, even take turns.

Kiki looks at her in surprise, "I was under the impression that mastering ones spirit energy made it much more difficult to sense and master their chi." Dekuyume smiles, "A near miss on the way back made everyone aware that we needed to do a little cultural exchange, so before we head out again, we will spend a day be pretending to be each other's species. So we will all be exterminators for a day or so. While that won't be long enough for everyone to sense their chi, it will give everyone a good basis to start from." Kiki grins, imagining the fun and embarrassment her children are going to go through. Kiki herself had been rescued from another destroyed village when she was young, and the differences between her birth village and the exterminator village had been staggering. _She could only imagine how completely different species might make that even more intense._

"I am glad my children get to experience this, so few yōkai are willing to share, and outside of these walls, even fewer humans are willing to learn…" Kiki hesitates a moment but offers anyways, "You may have one of the carts and a horse, if you are willing to perform the same enchantment on the other two carts the village uses to transport goods." The bargain is struck, and the group remains at the exterminator village for two weeks while Dekuyume prepares the other carts, and shows everyone how to operate the seal array.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

From within the depths of a mountain Naraku stirred restlessly. _It was quite boring, but he wasn't going to get anywhere without minions, and he couldn't make any minions until he had more mass to work with. He was only going to be able to do a soul compression once, it would behoove him to gather more souls to add to his matrix before he did so. However..._ ruby eyes focus on the gossiping yōkai as they are lured deeper and deeper into the mountain, where he is using the native magic to work as a crucible.

A small dragon yōkai nods, "Yeah, I heard it from my cousin who occasionally does transportation work for the Lord of the West. Apparently an old flea yōkai showed up at the palace wailing about a priestess turning the Lords half-breed brother into a human. Get this, the priestess _claims_ to be the reincarnation of Midoriko, but I don't believe it. I heard from Keikichi who heard it from Wutan who heard it from Omoi who has lived in Inuyasha's forest for centuries, that the priestess is a nearly perfect replica of Kikyō at that age, smells the same, and power tastes the same too, _and_ she had the Shikon no Tama inside of her before Mukade-sama got it out. She has to be the reincarnation of Kikyō, there is just no way she's Midoriko's. She can't be all that great if she got the smack down from a demon that just barely had the strength to crawl out of her grave. Me and some guys were planning on getting together and teaching her a lesson she won't forget…."

 _This was the third yōkai that he had heard whispering_ _Kikyō's_ _name._ He takes a deep breath and sighs, the collective struggling against Onigumo's desperate thrashing. _They would wait. If the rumors were true… If the rumors were true, this time_ _Kikyō_ _would be his. If only to silence Onigumo's caterwauling._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

After the most instructional, embarrassing, confusing and awkward week of their lives, one that had been interspersed with exhaustion, exasperation and exclamation; and rounded out with compassion and understanding, they were finally ready to leave the relative safety of the forest surrounding the exterminator village. Just in time too, suspicious things were happening at a mountain a few days travel away. Countless villages around the mountain had been attacked by yōkai of more than one species. What was most disturbing; every village had borne the brunt of the yōkai passing through, from every direction _towards_ the mountain, but no one had any troubles with yōkai _leaving_ the mountain. _Because there were none._

With no further idea where Naraku was hiding or hints as to the whereabouts of the flying yōkai that had made off with the other piece of the Shikon, they agreed to help in the preliminary investigation. They, and two other exterminator groups were to head out, there would be no combat, not even if they happened upon a village in the middle of being attacked. This was strictly for observational purposes, by all accounts there should be thousands of yōkai in the mountain. Engaging a single yōkai in combat could easily stir the whole nest, causing an army to rise from the dark depths.

The trip there was made in near silence. Not even their newly acquired heavily enchanted cart, with its insides so much bigger than its outsides, managed to draw much conversation. Truly, the longest conversation the whole way there was explaining how the design carved into the center of the cart could be used to supply extra power to the cart's holy sutra in case of attack. Dekuyume figured that everyone was just nervous due to the sheer number of yōkai they were heading towards. Unfortunately, she supposed that telling them that they would be faced with Naraku instead would not ease any of their worries. _Even if there were millions of salivating, rabid yōkai in the place they were going, the very fact that Naraku was there would mean that Kagome-chan and anyone who traveled with her would be safe. Because it was_ _her_ _._

Darkened red eyes gaze up at the mountain as the cart is forced to leave the road. There were no cart paths into the mountain, only around. They would be in for a bumpy ride _, though, not a very long one_. Dekuyume glances over at Kagome who puts her school books away and meets her gaze with determination. "Let's see how good your yōkai sensing is Imouto. Lead us to where they are gathered."

Only three hours up the mountain, and already even those with no tracking skills could tell that they were headed in the right direction. The damaged foliage, and discarded mostly-eaten carcasses gave proof to the passing of the yōkai who had gone before them. Stepping out of the cart as they hid it in one of the few undisturbed patches of trees, Dekuyume whispered her goodbyes to the children, and asked them to behave for Jinenji, who nodded in response to her words.

The group spit up then, with Sango and Kohaku going to meet with the other exterminator groups, following some secret signal that only they were privy too, while Kagome and Inuyasha scouted out the area surrounding the cart in wider and wider circles. Dekuyume waived both groups off, and headed into the underbrush alone. _She knew very well what would happen here, and she would not, could not interfere until just the last moment. Naraku had to be forced to acknowledge that Kagome-chan was indeed Kikyō's reincarnation, else when they gained another piece of the Shikon, he would destroy them all._

Dekuyume made it to the upper reaches of the mountain just as the sun set, and it only took a few minutes to find a good place to rest. The mountain was actually an extinct volcano. The inside had collapsed, leaving the mountain nearly hollow inside, with multiple openings where the lava tubes once carried its lifeblood out, and a massive opening at the top, to let the starry heavens gaze in at the slaughter below. Because of its previous existence, the land here was uniquely suited to forging the yōkai Naraku had lured there with the Shikon's siren song into much stronger yōkai for him to easily adsorb. Her position gave her an easy view of the caldera where Kagome and Inuyasha would be brought when they fell into the crumbling ruins of an old lava tube and the place where Naraku was currently watching the yōkai slaughter and combine.

It took only an hour and a half after the sun set for everything to come to a head. She could see it easily in his eyes. The heart wrenching yearning the moment Naraku spotted Kagome, and the fury when he noticed a human Inuyasha at her side. _The fury that rose but could never eclipse his yearning, and the chaos that stirred in his heart because of it. She knew it well…_ Dekuyume sighs as Inuyasha runs his mouth, luring the last yōkai into a fight. Luckily for the boy who charged in without considering the fact that there may be consequences, as a human the spell Naraku had cast would not cause him to merge with the yōkai in the crucible.

Dekuyume sighed in relief as realization spread across Naraku's face in the wake of a sacred arrow. Kagome standing on top of a small boulder, fires another to protect Inuyasha as he is thrown back by the yōkai's attack. Naraku's consternation as he realizes that Kagome is wearing exterminator armor is equally apparent. She could only grin as she spotted Kagome jerking her head up to stare into Naraku's hiding place, but the smile slowly wiped off her face at the expression on his.

 _She had not anticipated this… How much it would hurt. To know intimately how_ _desperately_ _he wanted her, and know that he would not get her… not in any form he would expect, and not for a long, long time._ She closes her eyes, unwilling or perhaps unable to watch as he adsorbs his prize, decides that Inuyasha is not worth considering in any measure, and that Kagome would be going back to his stolen castle with him. She draws an arrow by feel, only opening her eyes to check her aim as his tentacles lash out, reaching for Kagome.

She releases the arrow as Kagome pulls up a dome barrier around herself and Inuyasha who she was healing, nearly an inch thick. Dekuyume is probably the only one who knows that Naraku flinches more from the pain of her rejection than the barrier as it repels him, or the arrow that tears his tentacles asunder before piercing his hand. Slowly, his eyes rise up from the woman he has loved since before his Becoming, to spot another priestess of so little merit that she could not be seen clearly through the corona of power emitted by Kikyō's reincarnation. Dismissing Dekuyume as unimportant, his eyes are quickly drawn back to Kagome, _it was Kikyō reborn._ _She_ _was back, in power and heart she was so much_ _stronger_ _than before… this woman named Kagome…_ He easily ignores Inuyasha's shouting to meet Kagome's eyes steadily, reading the emotions on her face just as easily as he had Kikyō… _and no more available to him than she was the first time._

With a dark smirk, and a nod to her, he turns and leaves. There was no reason for him to stay here anymore. Her power in the caldera had already broken the enchantment and purified the land. He would not be able to use it again, what little mass and soul he still desired could easily be acquired one on one in person. He grits his teeth against the onslaught of Onigumo's emotions, demanding that they turn around and risk Kagome's wrath so that they could throw themselves at her feet and beg for forgiveness for all the wrongs they have made against her. The collective overthrows that suicidal demand. _There was a tree yōkai with time sorcery he had been meaning to adsorb…_


	57. A Murder of Wolves

Chapter 56: A Murder of Wolves

Suffice to say, Kagome and Inuyasha received quite the tongue lashing when Naraku left, and the exterminators filtered into the cavern. Perhaps the only thing that saved them from returning to the exterminator village for a more thorough one from Kei and Kiki was the messenger bird that arrived the following morning. A weeks travel east there were rumors of entire villages being emptied by wolves. While the pack that dwelt in those mountains occasionally hunted one or two wandering humans, never before had they emptied entire villages. That they had done just that to several was cause for suspicion, and so the Shikon hunters split from the exterminators who would report back to the village.

It was Inuyasha who spotted it first, which left Dekuyume, who prided herself on her observational skills, and Kagome with her great compassion, slightly embarrassed. They were two days into their trek to wolf territory when they were forced to stop. Jinenji was a hanyō. In retrospect, perhaps Inuyasha's sensitivity to Jinenji's plight was because Inuyasha was once a hanyō as well. Where Inuyasha once spent the nights of the new moon as a human, Jinenji spent the days of the first quarter moon as a human. He had spent the day before, and the morning of, as a nervous wreck, worrying about their reactions; only to be left in tears when Kagome only smiled and Dekuyume merely raised an eyebrow, examined his human form and said, "I see no difference, your heart is the same as it always has been."

And if Kagome had blushed when she realized what a handsome man Jinenji was, with his long jet black hair, crystal blue eyes, strong jaw, and lean, muscular body… Dekuyume would say nothing. _Kagome-chan was a teenage girl after all, and hormones were were terrible, insidious little things. She remembered that nightmare well, and was quite glad that at 22 she was beyond that._

Jinenji was forced to give up driving the cart for the day, without his father's ancestry present, he would have had to use the reins instead of just asking Clip-clop to go in a certain direction. Seeing that he had free time, Dekuyume began his schooling. Lost in a haze of learning, Jinenji was surprised to find that nearly the whole day had gone by without his noticing until they stopped for lunch, and he was finally given the chance to eat some persimmons, now that they would do him no harm.

When the sun finally set, and the students were forced to give up their studies by lack of light, no one made any mention of his transformation. Dekuyume simply showed him the best way to hold the writing brush when his size increased, and when he thanked them all for giving him the best day he had ever spent as a human… Kagome glowed with happiness lighting up the interior of the cart with her power as she grinned, "Jinenji-san. It only gets better from here."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kōga grit his teeth in frustration. His brothers and sisters were being _slaughtered_ by the birds of paradise. Ever since the dirty buzzard had gotten a piece of the Shikon, the flock of feather dusters had been hunting every prey animal on the mountain, and when they couldn't find any, they started dragging the wolves pups away to feed their nest. In order to feed the pack, they had been forced to descend the mountain and hunt humans. They were the easiest meat to get with just himself and the pack members who weren't Dai-yōkai. Those who were Dai-yōkai were needed to defend the den, and the pups the bastards hadn't murdered yet, not even his betas Ginta or Hakkaku could be spared. _He needed the missing shard, and he needed it_ _now_ _._

"I smell The Lord of the West." The party went still at Shippō's words. They were just outside of a tiny village, one that they knew was empty. They had chosen to start there in hopes of finding some clues, but of all the things they had thought to find, this was not one of them. Dekuyume remained silent as the party tentatively followed the old scent trail. Catching sight of the village as they moved through the trees she examined it for a moment before following the others to a patch of earth in the undergrowth heavy with the scent of Sesshōmaru's blood. She stared at the earth mixed with dried blood. _Sesshōmaru-san's human girl was terrified of wolves… hopefully this is proof that he has acquired her again and will be much better company in the future, and not a warning that time has gone awry._

Not finding much of anything, they moved into the village, parking the cart outside of the battered remains of the towns storage building. While the others searched the village, and Sōten and Kōryū flew up above them all to serve as lookouts Dekuyume held Shippō, and he got practice picking the lock to the storage building. When he succeeded, she gave him a hug and ruffled his hair, before putting him down when he tried to wiggle away. "Anesan~" Dekuyume felt no qualms about taking the modest chest, the size of a large jewelry box, which sounded like it was half full with coins, or the two barrels of rice and salt. _There was no one here to use them._

Jinenji had only stared at her in surprise as she carried the barrels over her shoulder. In truth she had used her magic a great deal, but his senses were not sharp enough to pick up on that. She was unsurprised to discover wolf tracks when she made her way over to one of the side rooms in the storage building where the village had once stored their dried meat, lizards and fish hanging from the rafters. With a grin, she and Shippō crawled through the opening the wolves had torn in the side of the building, and found where those tracks led into the forest.

Carefully, Sango with her tracking training, and Shippō, with his nose, led the group through the forest, a task made difficult by the density of the trees, and the width of the cart. They would have been forced to split up, had they not gone over a hill, with a road at the bottom, and smoke in the distance. As quickly as they could, the fighters of the group ran ahead, with the cart following as best it could on the road. Sango, Kirara and Kohaku arrived at the village first. Hiraikotsu and Kusarigama were their opening salvo, flying through the air and rending the wolves preparing to pounce on a teenager and his little sister as they were huddled together in fear next to the villages well. Kohaku remained with them, standing on the arch for the well, using his sickle to prevent any wolves from getting them as Sango swiftly moved through the village searching for more survivors.

Kohaku's courage held up well under the pressure, but when he suddenly realized that there were a half-dozen wolves around them, he faltered, but was saved by a blazing comet in the form of a sacred arrow from Kagome as she arrived. Inuyasha was close behind her, Murasame ready. Kohaku shouted at them, "Anesan has gone north to check for more survivors! I will stay here and guard! See if you can find anyone else!" Kagome nodded in response, and ran to the east, forcing Inuyasha, who was getting ready to argue, to turn and run after her.

In the forest, leaning against a tree, Dekuyume coughed raggedly. _Her illness was too progressed… she should not have tried to run…_ Pale and shaking she rose, wiping her blood and mucus on the bark of the tree, using her bow as a cane she slowly walked the rest of the way to the village.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

He was close enough to feel them. The spirits of his pack as they passed into the land of the dead. He had not thought they would have any problems _._ He had checked for holy people within three days travel, before leaving the hunting pack to the four villages in this area. He wanted to check a nearby mountain, but hadn't wanted to drag the whole pack all the way there and back. He was much faster than they were, and it would have taken _days_. A bunch of yōkai had been seen heading there, and whispers of the Shikon had reached his ears. The bowels of the mountain had been empty except for the stink of holy magic, and the cloying scent yokai magic, complex-poison and kuroyuri. He had found nothing, and irritated, he had stopped at a village along the way to catch himself a snack. Wanting a real challenge, he had stalked a woman before cornering her and ripping her throat out with his teeth without alerting her village It had delayed him by two hours, _and his pack_ _had been the ones to pay for it._

With a howl of rage, fangs bared, he lunges for the exterminator who so easily tears his family apart with holy magic. Facing four wolves, that were crouched low to the ground growling menacingly and snapping their jaws at her, Kagome does not see him. It doesn't matter though, _because she had the ability to sense the weak yōkai that lived in the future._ Kōga was many times stronger than they were, and he had no chance of catching her unawares. Her barrier sprung up in a hemisphere to protect her, giving her time to fell the wolves before turning to face him. With blood still dripping down his face from his earlier meal, and the feral expression on his face, Kōga spun to block an attack from Inuyasha. Murasame clattered harmlessly off of his bracers as he struck the flat of the blade with them, and with a simple leg sweep Inuyasha was on his back, the breath knocked out of his lungs.

Seeing the feral wolf Dai-yōkai lunge for the prone form of a boy she thinks she may be falling in love with, Kagome takes the shot. Inuyasha's eyes are filled with sharp bloody fangs, rage filled eyes, and claws swiftly moving for his heart, and then it was over. The wolf dissolved into magic as he was purified by Kagome's arrow. Inuyasha barely has time to sit up and realize that he would not be dying this day, before he finds himself with an armful of teary eyed, sobbing Kagome. He hesitantly wraps his arms around her, uncertain if her tears are for him, or if this is the first time that she has killed a yōkai that looked so very human. He looks up at Sango as she and Kirara run up and quietly explains what happened. Together, the two of them bring Kagome to the town's well, where Jinenji and the cart have arrived.

Without saying a word to anyone Kagome crawls inside and cuddles with the two children. They hug her back as tightly as they can, Kōryū flutterers at her shoulder, his little talons gentle on her back and she smiles half-heartedly in response. There is a squeal of fear from the villagers as two more Dai-yōkai wolves come out of the forest, with their hands raised. Pale and exhausted, Dekuyume steps into the village behind them, bow raised, with two arrows notched and ready. Leaving the two wolves to the exterminators, Dekuyume follows the sounds of Kagome crying, and enters the cart to comfort her little sister. Seeing Dekuyume, Kagome throws herself at her sister, "I…I…" Dekuyume pulls Kagome close, "I know… I know… Just let it all out."

Half an hour later, after Kagome has fallen into a recuperative sleep, Dekuyume exits the cart, patting her kimono jacket dry. Moving over to Sango with a sigh she asks, "So what's the story." Sango grips Hiraikotsu tightly, nodding to where the two wolf Dai-yōkai, and the three wolves from the hunting party that survived are sitting next to the well. "Apparently they came to tell their alpha that another of their children was taken by the bird of paradise yōkai that live in the upper reaches of their mountain. The leader of these yōkai has a piece of the Shikon." Dekuyume turns to her, ceasing her examination of the Dai-yōkai she had stumbled upon earlier. Sango grins victoriously, "In exchange for dealing with these yōkai, and in the absence of their alpha, they have decided to let us keep the Shikon fragment, and will lead us to the birds nest."

Dekuyume glances towards the thirty or so humans that they had managed to rescue. _They were on their own now._ "We best get moving before the villagers try to get vengeance." With a nod, Inuyasha, Kirara, Sango and Kohaku heard the wolves out of the village, and hopping back on the cart, Jinenji follows her unspoken request to follow them. They make it to the base of the mountain, before they are forced to stop the cart. The river that lies between them and the mountain is too deep for the cart to cross, and so they decide to leave the non-combatants, and the still asleep Kagome there. Crouching down, Dekuyume whispers into Kōryū, Shippō and Sōten's ears, "If she wakes before we return, tell her that she needed the sleep, and I needed someone with heavy-combat ability to stay with the cart. We know these wolves hunt humans, and there is a very real chance that they will turn on us the moment we have the Shikon fragment. No one goes anywhere alone. Ok?"

The two children shake their heads, and with a glance at Jinenji, she hops out of the cart, adjusts her quiver and bow before following Sango, Kohaku and Inuyasha. She is surprised when her tired feet trip on a rock, and Kirara catches her. The felines fur is soft and warm under her hand, and Kirara's eyes are sharp and knowing as they peer at her. Dekuyume quietly thanks her as she crawls on Kirara's back. _It was so infuriating being this weak. Hopefully she would die soon, and her next malady would not slow her down quite so badly._

It was easy to see that without Kirara's aid, she would never have made the trip up the mountain, and the wolves would have easily spotted her weakness as the Shikon hunters, led by Ginta and Hakkaku passed by the wolves den where the three yōkai ran over to the rest of their pack. It was just as they moved out of sight that a mournful howl began to echo through the mountain's valleys. Dekuyume was glad that Kagome was not here to listen to the pack mourn for its alpha, and could only hope that the sound did not carry to where the cart was.

Ginta and Hakkaku crouch down as they near the opening to the cave they had been walking in for the last ten minutes. In a whisper, they tell the group that the birds of paradise had their nests just outside, and that their leader, the bird with two heads, was the one who had the Shikon. They quietly slunk away while the others moved close to the opening of the cave to see what they could see. Inuyasha wanted to rush out into the fray instantly, but the others nay-sayed him. He pouted and muttered about ninja when he realized they intended to wait for sunset, and for the birds to all return to their nests, before sneaking through the aerie and ending the flock leader before anyone knew they were even under attack.

Extra masks were given to Inuyasha and Dekuyume. They would use smoke bombs to cover their escape. The plan goes off without a hitch. The birds, secure in their superiority, have no night watch. And because of the silence of Murasame's murder, and the equally quiet knife work by Dekuyume as she pries the Shikon fragment out of the birds gizzard, they don't even have to use the smoke bombs. There is some surprise when the jewel falls into Dekuyume's hand and turns black as night. _But… they already knew that she was Magatsuhi once_ , so the instantaneous blackening of the jewel drew nothing more than some raised eyebrows, and a sheepish smile from Dekuyume.

Halfway through the aerie Dekuyume spots something that she had not on the way in. She signals Kohaku, who signals Sango as she leads them all back through the nest. Sango looks back, and turns her gaze to where Dekuyume is pointing. It was Manten, or at least what was left of him after the birds had picked his carcass clean. With a sigh she readies the smoke bombs and with a quick arrow, Dekuyume fulfills her promise to Sōten, sending what remains of Manten to the immortal plain.

The smoke fills the area, disorienting the birds even more than being startled out of their sleep by holy magic does. Without their leader to organize them, they cause no issues while the party finishes moving through the aerie. They make it back into the cave without any problems, and even Kohaku is forced to frown. "That was too easy." Inuyasha huffs, "Keh, don't worry those mangy wolves will give us trouble. Now that we did all their work for them, the cowards will show their true colors." With a sigh, Dekuyume and Sango are forced to agree, so it is with extreme caution that the group descends from the mountain.

Sango cautions everyone to remain aware of where all of the cliffs are, just in case the wolves decide that fighting them is too dangerous, and pushing them off looks to be the better option. They watch for traps, but apparently the wolves were too cowed by the birds to stage their attack higher up the mountain, and so it does not come until they are just outside the wolves den. Had the wolves ventured closer to the birds nest, they would have realized that instead of fighting a group of tired humans, they were fighting a group of well rested ones ready for a fight.

None of the wolves were as strong as they liked to think they were, but they were numerous. Several wolves and Dai-yōkai perish, before the pack pulls back, browbeaten, and their tails tucked between their legs. Dekuyume pants heavily, the siren song of the Shikon had caused many of them to attack her in spite of her holy powers. With her already weakened constitution, and her teacup worth of holy magic nearly expended, it would not take much more to kill her. It is then, that she is knocked from Kirara by a surprise attack from above. A small wolf pup, howling in rage for the group murdering his mama tries to go for her neck, but she defends herself easily.

Her eyes widen as she hears the sound of glass rolling across stone. She tilts her head back just in time to see the Shikon fragment glint in the moonlight as it falls over the cliff. She scrambles to her feet and watches in shock as the jewel fragment falls into the river that had prevented the cart from coming closer to the mountain. The pup that had attacked her, as if sensing the impending horror, scrambles over to the rest of the pack, and hides behind the adults. As Dekuyume begins to laugh darkly, they turn to run, but is far, far too late. "Ku ku ku…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Jinenji leaves the cart when he sees them. Kohaku walks with Kirara, who received a nasty cut on her back when the wolf pup attacked. Dekuyume, waxy, and pale hangs unconscious between Sango and Inuyasha as they carry her. He takes her from them easily, placing her down gently in the cart. Awake, Kagome does what she can to heal Dekuyume, but Kagome sighs when she realizes that most of her sisters problem is exhaustion, and the kami's curse. Quietly, Inuyasha and the exterminators explain what happened. Kagome's eyes widen in surprise and disappointment when she hears what the wolves had done, and her sister's response. "What did she do…"

At their questioning looks Kagome folds her hands in her lap and stares at them for a moment. "Deku-neesan only does that silly evil laugh when she has decided to ruin someone's life. I've heard it three times before, and not once have I been happy with what she has done afterwards. I told her I didn't ever want to hear about this happening again, no matter how much someone might deserve it." She looks up at them, unhappy but determined. "Now… Please tell me what she did."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hakkaku probably suffered the least from the curse Dekuyume left on the wolf clan. As a result, he was the only one who was laughing. Ginta kicks Hakkaku in the side as the Dai-yōkai rolls around on the ground. "It's not funny. She shaved us like **poodles.** We aren't ever going to be able to show our faces again! What kind of evil person curses someone's hair into a poodles if they harmed humans?" Hakkaku, who usually sported a Mohawk, and was thus barely influenced by the curse, just grunted and kept laughing. Peiwei, the pup who caused the priestess to turn into the evil she-devil who cursed them, cries inconsolably, wiping his tears into the puffy ends of his shaved ears.

There was a bright side though, the curse was not permanent. They were left with two options, wait for their hair and fur to grow back on its own every time they attacked a human, or find a human to help. The moment the human was helped, the curse would be lifted, and they would go back to their original appearance.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome stares at them in surprise as they recount the curse as Dekuyume explained it to the wolves before passing out. With a soft smile Kagome silently apologizes for thinking the worst of Dekuyume _. She should have known better_. _Her anesan never did anything if she knew it would hurt her feelings._

Downstream, a moth demon masquerading as a man gets his precious wings wet as he dives into the water to pull out a fragment of the Shikon no Tama. "Well now, what do we have here?"


	58. The Nothing of The Void

Chapter 57: The Nothing of the Void

She did not try to force her way out of the pod when he decided she was ready to be born, and so he was forced to cut her out. She didn't even cry out in pain when the sorcerer removed her heart. She merely sat there, her long white hair and pale skin still covered in the amniotic fluid of the genesis pod. Black eyes held no emotion, and reflected all light. Naraku frowned as he considered his second incarnation. _He had not planned to make his next incarnation of the void, but she had formed nearly on her own as he had used the power of the Shikon to force out the space between his soul fragments._

"What is your name." he asks, but she does not respond. Gritting his teeth, he hisses, "Kanna! Answer me!" He slaps her, attempting to generate a response, but the girl doesn't even turn her head back forward from where the force of his blow turned it away. With a sigh, he leaves the room. _Clearly this one was broken just as badly as the first, albeit in a different way._

Kanna was not there to hear him. Her soul had vacated the nightmare of sensations that was her body almost as soon as he had anchored her soul to it. She was searching… _It wasn't anywhere. Her essence spread out over the whole world as she searched, but… the nothingness was gone._ Desperate, she searched again. _Surely it wasn't gone? Surely there was somewhere that the somethings had not contaminated with their anything?_

Then, suddenly, she felt it, moving through a far off field outside an old well that was filled with time magic. It was old, but traces of the nothingness still remained embedded in the soul she had found. _She must go there._ By the power of her will alone Kanna of the void disappeared from Naraku's stolen castle, passing the barrier around it as if it were nothing, and came into being just a few feet in front of what little nothingness she had managed to find in the cacophony of all this somethingness.

Dekuyume gasped in surprise when Kanna appeared before her. Kagome, who had just finished another round of testing pokes her head over the rim of the well to see the slimy naked girl, and the tragic expression on her sisters face. With a heave, she finishes pulling their packs out of the well and comes to stand near Dekuyume.

The girl was naked, and still covered in the amniotic fluid of her genesis pod. _This… this was impossible. Kanna-chan had been an unresponsive doll until Naraku had used the mirror demon that was had served the exterminators as a mirror of seeking to force Kanna's soul into close enough proximity to animate the girls body. Her soul had been so appreciative when he had trapped it in the mirror, the closest thing to a void on the mortal plain. No matter what he asked of her in the future, she had done it, if only so he wouldn't pull her soul back out of the mirror._

 _The mirror was still in the shelter of the exterminator village. So how was…_ Dekuyume places a hand over her heart. _Kanna-chan… Could she sense the vestiges of the void that not even the Kōtotsu had been able to remove?_ Slowly, Dekuyume comes to kneel before her second daughter. Kanna's eyes follow her, and Dekuyume's heart is filled with hope. But the hope is quickly crushed when Kanna speaks for the first time, only to say, "Can you take me back to the nothingness?"

With trembling lips she responds, "What about your heart, he has taken it hasn't he?" Kanna's face is expressionless where another would have frowned or grimaced in distaste. "I don't want it, it's unnatural, it made me something. I am not meant to be something, please. Please take me home before I become so much of something that I can't be nothing anymore. I… I can't find the nothing. No matter where I look, there is something. I know you have been there. Please, please take me back to the nothing."

With quiet heartache Dekuyume informs Kanna that she will return to complete nothingness if she goes into the void, and Kanna replies, "Do you promise?" Dekuyume's aching heart breaks, _Ito-chan died for my arrogance, and it seems that my second daughter will as well_.

"Yes."

Kanna watches with emotionless eyes as Dekuyume removes her kimono jacket. She doesn't even ask why Dekuyume wraps her in it. She does not care, she doesn't care about anything that happens to her as long as she can go back into the nothing. With gentle, mournful hands she picks Kanna up and turns to Kagome. Any questions the young miko had were silenced by the silent agony in her anesan's eyes, and the barely hidden heartache in her voice as she speaks, "I will be gone for a short period of time while I… take Kanna-chan home."

Kagome hesitates, "Do you want me to come too?" Pulling the unresponsive girl closer Dekuyume shakes her head, "No. This is something I have to do alone. Imouto…" She turns and meets Kagome's eyes as a single tear leaves her ruby orbs. Kagome reaches up and brushes it away, causing Dekuyume to smile sadly, "Kanna-chan is of the void. My soul has been there once before, so it won't hurt me… the same cannot be said for anyone else." She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "I will not break, and I will see you soon." Kagome nods uncertainly, grabs both packs and begins the hike back into Edo. "Kagome-chan?" She pauses when she hears her sister call out.

She turns, finding Dekuyume faced away from her, at the foot of the well. Dekuyume does not turn as she speaks. "Hug me when I get back?" Kagome forces a grin to her face, "Yep!" Dekuyume bows her head in response, and says nothing further causing her little sister to quietly leave. She doesn't know how long she would have spent standing there staring at the well, had Kanna not chosen to speak again, staring up at her with her vacant, empty eyes, "There is only time in this well. There is no void."

Dekuyume nods, "Yes. Are.. Are you certain this is what you want?" Kanna stares up at her for a minute before nodding. Left with no reason to stall, she carefully stands on the rim of the well, closes her eyes and prays to her kami. (( _Kagome no kami, this Dekuyume seeks passage onto the immortal plain for herself and the incarnation of the void, Kanna-chan, and permission to take The Well of Time to The Void so that Kanna-chan may return to the place she calls home_.))

The universe ripples around her and suddenly, the clearing that stood around the well was no more. In its place was the metal framework of _The Well of Time_. Dekuyume hops off of the well's lip and begins moving through the hallways. Eventually she finds herself walking towards Kagome no kami, who appeared to be very, very frustrated. Knowing exactly why, and not in the mood to deal with the kami throwing a temper tantrum because she got lost in her own ship, she simply walks past her. Kagome glares at the third reincarnations back before huffing and following after her.

Kanna shows no sign of reacting to her surroundings. _It was sad in some respects, but good in others. It meant that there was a good chance that Kanna-chan would get exactly what she was asking for, that she had not been too changed by this ordeal, that she would not be the only something in the nothing that was the void._

When Dekuyume makes it to the command center for the ship, she gestures with her head for Kagome no kami to sit in the Primary Operators seat. "If you would will us to _The Void_ , I would be grateful Kami-sama." Kagome frowns, _it was kind of scary. Everything about being a kami seemed to be intuitive, there were no spells to learn, or lessons to take, there was no effort involved at all. Everything, no matter how amazing it was from a human perspective, was as simple as wanting it to be so._

And just like that, _The Well of Time_ was gone from its placeholder on the mortal plain, and hovered outside _The Colloquium of Souls_ where _The Void_ was docked. Dekuyume bowed to her kami before turning and walking out of the control room, Kanna, still an unresponsive weight in her arms. Curious, Kagome no kami chose to follow, only to halt at the edge of _The Well of Time_. There were no objects or barriers barring her path, _she just… she just couldn't bring herself to take that last step. There was no crushing terror, as if she was being warned away, nor was there a sense of exhaustion or an out of place desire to make sure she remembered to turn the stove off. She, she just didn't want to take that last step, and she didn't know why. And that scared her more than anything._

Kagome no kami was left watching Dekuyume's back as she disappears. Dekuyume moves through _The Colloquium of Souls_ on steady feet. She had been there many times before, _though this was the first time that she had not been escorted around in chains._ She moves onward, down a path that she knows will lead her to the claw machine room, and it's opening into _The Void_. Kui-Xing rises to his feet as he spots her. "Halt! No living human is supposed to set foot here! Who is your kami miko!"

Dekuyume continues onward, only stopping when she is perpendicular to him. She tilts her head to the side, glancing up at him through one pained blood red eye, "Now is not the time for games." Without a word further, Dekuyume faces forward and resumes her journey, leaving the kami behind. He watches her go in silence. Slowly, his appearance changes to that of a red eyed goddess, her kimono and fans decorated with carnations and yellow roses. "I wonder if you were always this amazing, and no one noticed, or if you only became so because you finally got to keep her."

Unlike most ships, which docked so that you could walk straight from one domain to another, _The Void_ had to be fallen into. To prevent accidents, a steel barricade was bolted into the ground around the dock, upon which the claw machine usually sat. There were countless cables plugged into the barricade, their ends dangling into the vastness of _The Void_ , autonomously collecting data no one ever cared about until something went wrong.

Gently, Dekuyume sets Kanna on the ground, and pushes the claw machine, on its rolling stand, out of the way. Kneeling, she removes her kimono jacket from Kanna, and helps her onto the edge of the guard for the dock for _The Void_. Kanna lets go of her hand and moves into the void without a word or a backwards glance. Trembling, knowing that there is no one to see, Dekuyume sinks to her knees, hands gripped tight against the lip and weeps into the steel wall. A wordless wail of pain falling from her lips. _A second child, dead at her hands._

She doesn't know how much time passes before she manages to pull herself together enough to leave, _but eventually all sorrows faded. Even sorrows so great that they left a permanent ache as they settled in, soul deep._

She rises to her feet and cleans off her face with the inside of one of her kimono jacket sleeves. _But the tears don't stop, and she doesn't think they will be any time soon._ She stares at the dock for a moment, before laying her kimono jacket over one shoulder. She brings her hands together, clapping twice before she bows deeply, a prayer for her second daughter, so powerful it could barely be held captive in her heart. Cheeks wet with fresh tears, she turns and leaves.

There was no response to her prayer… she didn't know if it was because there was no kami for _The Void_ , or if it was because The Great Nothingness had nothing to say.


	59. The Second Daughter

Chapter 58: The Second Daughter

 _"_ _Great Nothingness of The Void. I have brought you Kanna… she is a beloved daughter of mine. Before... Before I did not understand the heart well enough to love her as I should have, or perhaps I did, and there was no room for anyone but_ _her_ _inside of it. But I have grown since then, and fulfilling my daughters greatest wish has left me with a sorrow I am not sure I am strong enough to endure. Please. If there is any mercy in you at all. Treat her gently, and make her your own."_

Slowly the words echoed through the void, _a prayer._ A domain and a prayer without a kami, _but there must be a kami._ Because there was a domain, and a prayer… but a kami of _The Void_ , must be nothingness… _Right?_

Though there were no eyes to flutter open in confusion, or muscles to stretch, because there was a payer, _It woke up._

 _It was The Void,_ which was also just, the void, a void, space, and the measure of distance between things that had nothing in between them, including the nothing in between clumps of nothing. When Naraku had used the power of the Shikon to increase the density of his soul, forcing out the space between the fragments, he had touched void.

 _He had made it touchable._ And when he had taken that touchable nothingness, and given it a body…

 _He had made the void itself into a living being._ When Dekuyume had brought Kanna back to _The Void_ she had brought a tiny little void made of something, and let it dissolve into the gargantuan nothingness of _The Void_ , saturating every bit of space with an infinitely thin _something._

Dekuyume… had forgotten one very important thing.

 _There was no time in the void._ At least… there hadn't been. _Until Kanna._

Suddenly, across the multi-verse, in the infinite array of time, Kami found that they could place things in _The Void_ , where once before they could not trespass or alter the domain. _It should have destroyed the domain, placing things inside The Void, but the void was not subject to time, and so the very instant that something was placed inside the void was also the same instant that it was removed._

With no kami to give perspective to the never/forever domain of _The Void_ , it was perfectly empty, even when it was full.

 _Until Kanna dissolved into The Void, until she_ Became _it._

The void watched as it was shown things, and became oddly uncomfortable when many, many things were shown at the same time, until something, or more appropriately, _someone,_ caught its attention as he began to rapidly expand, removing some something's from its view. Curious, it moves everything really dangerous away from the growing thing, and moves his food closer. Though, like any small child with a pet, eventually it grew tired of feeding him, and forgot about him as he curled up to sleep. It was distracted by other something's that it was being shown. A bright light entered its vision, and the light was brilliant and enthralling, until it realized that it was attacking its sleeping pet.

As it pushed the bright light away from its pet again, and again, it began to feel frustrated. Then, something began to pull its pet away, and it felt fear. Throwing the bright light at a bubble that contained something that would hopefully eat it, it reached for its pet. But it was too late. Its pet was already was already gone. Then, It felt rage.

Because of its anger, and the fact that these somethings had made it something enough _for_ anger, it tears apart the bright light that managed to survive its encounter, and once that is ripped apart, it starts destroying everything else.

When the claw machine began to give: Error 404; object not found, messages as they tried to recall the Kōtotsu, and unable to figure out what was happening, _The Soul Society_ lodged a complaint with Kui-Xing, and all the other Kami took their belongings out of _The Void_.

Eventually, across the infinity of time, they took it _all_ out.

Reveling in its complete absence of the troubling somethings, the void realizes that there was still something left. _It didn't like that, and it didn't like the fact that it was something enough to not like something._ So in one last act of somethingness, it gathered everything that was not nothing and banished it from the void, leaving it a true void once more.

Then a kami banished something into _The Void_ , but the void did not care, it was still nothing.

Even if it was a now a great big space with a microbe in it.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume said nothing as she re-boarded _The Well of Time._ Kagome no kami wanted to ask… _but she felt uncomfortable trying to sate her curiosity when the third reincarnation was clearly in need of her little sister._ The tears blurred Dekuyume's vision as she walked off the bridge and made her way to the portal room. She took up her position on the rim of the well, and took a deep breath. Between one blink and the next she was back on the mortal plain, the warmth of the sun on her bare shoulders told her that she was back, but she was having difficulty seeing.

Dekuyume's eyes widen in shock as she looks up after she wipes her eyes on her kimono jacket again. Still naked as the day she was born, spider shaped scar on her back a stark contrast to her pale skin, standing with one hand on the well, and one hand extended towards Dekuyume, was Kanna. With a wordless cry, Dekuyume crashed from the well's lip, grabbing the girls hand and pulling her into a hug as she rolled to the ground.

Through her sobbing, she can hear as Kanna says that she is something from the nothing, and that while she was glad she was complete now, she needed help. Worried, and heart full of fear, Dekuyume sat up, bringing Kanna with her, so that they were kneeling face to face in the grass. "What can I help you with Kanna-chan?"

Dekuyume's heart flutters in awe and surprise as a tiny grin ghosts across Kanna's face, leaving Dekuyume wondering if she had imagined the whole thing. "Will you help me be a good something, like Kaasan's do?" Dekuyume nods yes, barely managing to choke out the words as she pulls Kanna into another hug, gripping her as tightly as she can, weeping with joy.

Hidden within the trees Kagome no kami and Kagome lean against a tree side by side, sharing a box of tissues as they watch the happy reunion.


	60. Testing the Waters

Chapter 59: Testing the Waters

Blessedly, Kanna's introduction to Shippō, Sōten and Kōryū went off without a hitch, and the two exuberant children and young dragon were able to lure Kanna into a game. The girls eyes had widened in surprise when they had asked if she wanted to go play, and placing a hand on her chest, she had turned to Dekuyume. In a voice that somehow managed to remain even in tone, but still convey surprise, Kanna spoke, "Kaasan? My heart just moved, and now everything is tingling. Am I ok?"

Kneeling down, and gently placing one hand over Kanna's Dekuyume used her hurt seeking spell, even though she suspected she knew what the issue was. With a soft smile that wrinkled the tip of her nose, she reassured the little void child. "That is excitement, don't worry. Emotions are powerful things, they often fill up the empty space in a person's heart, you will have many more of them in the future, but I will be here every step of the way. So don't be afraid." Out of the corner of her eyes she sees Shippō and Sōten exchange glances as she rises and ruffles Kanna's hair. Sōten grins and steps forward. "C'mon, we're going to play hide and seek. My servant and I will explain how it goes while Shippō-kun stays here and counts to 50."

The group watches as the two girls go. One, hair black as night and garnet red eyes, so boyish she was often mistaken for one, and the other, pale as fresh snow with infinitely black eyes. Wrapped in Dekuyume's Kimono jacket, held closed by her equally white obi, the little girl looked like a ghost. Dekuyume sighs, looking down at Shippō who was tugging on the hem of her hakama that only remained on because she had used the extra material to tie them on. She kneels once more and the little fox gently touches one of the many bruises that were no longer hidden by her kimono jacket. "Anesan?" Glancing up at the other teenagers and adults, she sighs. _I certainly have some explaining to do, but we are in the middle of Edo. Also, even though he does not have Kanna-chan, Kagura-chan was born quickly afterwards, and he may have the wind sorceress watching us even now…_

"Before we came here to end the Shikon, and because of my actions in a past life, I was cursed with ill health by the kami." His eyes widen in surprise and she places a finger over his lips to prevent him from blurting anything out. "Yes, do be careful when you pass the information on to Sōten-chan. As for Kanna-chan… Her soul is very old, but her heart is very, very young. I will wait until she is aware enough to ask the question, provided she doesn't already know…"

She gently places her hand on the top of his head, "No matter how bad I look, _or feel_ , the job I have to do is far too important for the curse to end me prematurely. Even if it does cause me a great deal of discomfort, and embarrassingly slow me down, I will survive, I always have, and I always will." Lifting her hand, she taps the sutra peeking out from either side of her left undershirt strap. "Since some of the things I get can make me pretty upsetting to look at, this sutra takes some of my magic and keeps my hands and face looking normal. No need to upset random strangers, or cause them to avoid me anymore than my eyes already do."

Shippō nods, before biting his lip and looking up at her in question. Dekuyume smiles sadly. "Kanna-chan is a void yōkai, and someone that Naraku-san had intended to use against us as a weapon. But… she sought me out first, and asked me to return her to nothingness." Shippō's eyes fill up with tears, empathetically catching the echo of emotion as it moves through Dekuyume. "It was very hard, but I managed to grant her wish, only for _The Void_ to give her back after changing her. She is something else now, perhaps a space/distance yōkai? Either way, she has claimed me as her mother, and I will do my best to help her understand her new power of existence. Since we're family, and she's your new sister, you guys will help me too, right?"

Shippō grins, chirps a happy "Yes! Anesan!" before scampering off to get the game of hide and seek going. Dekuyume watches with a grin, idly wondering if the children will return with Kanna as the new champion. _Her daughter had no aura for them to sense, or scent to follow, so they would have to practice their tracking skills another way._ Rising, she turns to the exterminators, Inuyasha, Jinenji, Kagome and Kaede, who had come to see what all the fuss was about. She answers their questions as best she can without giving any secrets away, but isn't able to convey much information. If they could figure it out, so could Naraku. Thankfully, the group lets the questioning stop, even if Inuyasha does grumble under his breath about secrets.

Dekuyume just bows politely to them all, "Thank you for your understanding, and please forgive me for any burden I place on you all." She leaves the feudal era quickly after that, off to the future, and the stash of kimono that had been kept on the shrine. Many of them were ones that the shrine children had worn when holding festivals at the shrine.

With a quick explanation to her mother, Dekuyume retrieved several of them in the children's sizes. "Kanna-chan was my _daughter_ , and I treated her like a _servant at best and a tool at worst_. I've never been a mother before, at least not a _real_ one." Kānēshon simply gave Dekuyume a tender hug, careful of the bruising she could see on her daughter's body and the fragile heart it contained. _Fragile yes, but also so very strong._ "Deku-chan, just love her, and everything will work out in the end. You'll see." With a reassured, but still hesitant smile, Dekuyume returned to the feudal era. "Thanks Kaasan."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _It wasn't fair. It wasn't her fault that the bastards first squalling brat had managed to escape the death sentence he had given her. She would have done just the same, given the chance._ _ **It had hurt so badly.**_ _The sensation of shackles settling around her body as he stole her heart from her chest, trapping it in a jar outside of her reach. Even if her body was immortal without her heart in it,_ _ **Kagura was an incarnation of the wind**_ _, this imprisonment was not acceptable!_ _ **How dare he! How dare he do this to her**_ _!_

She flits through the sky on a giant feather, watching the beings below as they prepare to leave Edo and return to the exterminators village. _To make her watch as her elder sister enjoyed a freedom she herself did not… It was just too cruel. She didn't really blame her sister though, that rested on his shoulders, and she would take every misery he visited on her out of_ _ **his**_ _hide._

She watches with ruby eyes as the group leaves the village, following them for days before finding a good place to carry out her orders. _The bastard would crush her heart if she did not obey him, and she would_ _not_ _die a_ _ **slave.**_ As the group pulls off the beaten path, heading to a hot springs they frequently visited on their way between Edo and the exterminator's village, Kagura flies ahead to a village they would have to pass by in order to continue their journey on the road. A lone villager finishing up his work for the night spots her, but doesn't even have time to speak as the Dai-yōkai swings her fan, muttering, "Dance of blades." The village erupts into chaos, _not that she minds much_. It's a simple matter to use her favorite attack to slaughter them all, occasionally mixing it up with a simple wind gust to keep the peasants from getting her kimono dirty as they die.

After a few moments spent in silence, walking through the village carefully, to avoid getting any of their blood on her bare feet she nods to herself, acknowledging that every human in the village had perished, before raising her fan high above her head. She cries out "Dance of the Dead!" Swiftly bringing the fan down, there is a moment of stillness, then, as she slowly raises the fan, the dead villagers rise like marionettes. With a sigh of boredom she uses her feather to fly up to the peak of the tallest hut in the village, _the headman's no doubt_ , where she sits, leaning against the chimney.

As she begins to use her fan to direct the puppets, hiding them all from direct view, she settles in to wait for the group to get close enough for her to spring her trap. Puppets hidden, with nothing left to do but wait, idly she considers her feet, where they hang off of the roof. _They were bare of course… She was trapped enough in her circumstances, there was no reason to entrap them as well. Though… perhaps she should get some paint for her nails… that could be nice… at least painting them would give her something to do while she waited._

Thousands of feet up in the air, hovering just above where he could tell that Kagome's senses could detect yōkai, encased in a red barrier, was a male form wrapped in a white bamboo pelt. _He was not so foolish as to be there in person, but none of the incarnations he had made so far but Kagura were capable of getting close enough to hear what they were saying. It was a frustrating challenge, but one he found himself enjoying. Even if it meant that he had to resort to indirect means of acquiring information about the groups strengths. Just how had they stolen Kanna from him?_

He could see Kagome's power easily, her cloak of magic was so great that it extended for miles before thinning out into nothing. _And there was the problem…_ His eyes watch carefully as the sphere of magic moves, as the elder priestess stood next to Kagome, explaining something before firing an arrow at a tree. Kikyō's reincarnation nods enthusiastically, before drawing an arrow of her own and repeating the lesson. He watches as the magic gathers noting that they appear to be practicing sealing arrows.

 _It really was a problem. Due to the magnitude of Kagome's aura, he was not able to sense the magic of the other miko, it wasn't because she did not have magic. He could tell that she did, the effect of her arrow was quite apparent as she used it on the two tailed cat yōkai that was assisting them._ He watches as Kagome hesitates, looking to the other miko and the cat yōkai for reassurance, before attempting one herself. The arrow strikes true, and he watches as the young miko jump up and down shouting with joy when it succeeds. She runs over to the sealed yōkai, and with a simple touch of her hand, ends the enchantment, removing the arrow as if it had never been there. His heart aches as she cuddles the feline close, _wishing…_

He turns away from the scene, flying over to go check on Kagura. _Kanna was of the void, and clearly not even taking her heart was enough to prevent the her void magic from voiding out anything he could have done to enslave the girl. Kagura was his first successful incarnation then, and she was_ _ **very**_ _stubborn. Had he not stolen her heart, he wondered if she would have deserted him just as quickly as his second incarnation._ He watches her in quiet contemplation. _Perhaps it was because they were female? Ito…died. Kanna fled, and Kagura rebelled._ _The next ones would be male, the one female he had managed to keep was a handful._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The nights practice had gone well, even if there had been some emotional turmoil on all fronts when Kirara had volunteered herself as a target for Kagome's sealing arrow practice. They didn't have very many options though, it was almost impossible to find yōkai strong enough to survive being sealed in the future, and short of going out of their way to hunt down a yōkai here, or trying to get practice in the middle of a yōkai attack, it was the best option.

Kagome had cuddled up to the cat at the end of ordeal, alternately thanking her and apologizing. Dekuyume had taken the time to help the children with their powers. For Sōten, she had the girl sit down and try to increase the size of the lighting orbs she could generate. With all of the moisture in the air from the hot springs everyone was taking turns enjoying, it was much easier here than it would be anywhere else, not that she would tell the girl that. Simply having done it once before, would give her enough self-belief to perform the same thing elsewhere.

She quite enjoyed the transformation battle she sparked between Kōryū and Shippō. While their means of transformation were different, the end result was the same. At the end she thought that each had mastered a much better horse transformation than what they started with. Clip-clop had served as a good model. Kanna… had been more difficult, but not outside of Dekuyume's knowledge to teach. Carefully, kneeling on the ground with Kanna's hands held between her own, Dekuyume had slowly directed the child's magic into opening up a pinhole void. _Though opening wasn't exactly accurate since what she actually did was just increase the space between everything, pushing the molecules of air out of the way. Without the mirror, Kanna-chan would have to learn everything the hard way, but eventually the little girl would gain the ability to teleport herself and others brave enough to entrust themselves to her power._

Grinning at the wide eyed awe on her daughters face, Dekuyume continues the lesson, directing Kanna's magic to fill the space, compacting everything so close together that there is a pop when the magic is released and all of the molecules of air rush away. She leaves Kanna to continue practicing as she glances at Kohaku, Inuyasha and Sango cleaning and sharpening their blades, a simple task made potentially lethal by Murasame. She checks up with Jinenji as he meditated, he seemed to be the closest non-exterminator to finding his chi, before calling all of the children together for their bath. _There was no reason not to, they were all family, even if the emotional age of some of the children was older than the others, and none of them were related by blood._

With an extra pair of hands in the form of Kagome, the bath time went quickly, and this time everyone was aware of what an honor it was when Shippō asked Dekuyume to help him comb out his tail. Dekuyume had smiled, and complied, before handing him the brush, and sinking down low on a rock as she soaked in the hot springs so he could brush her hair while she began to brush out Sōten's. She could hear her imouto quietly laughing in the background as Sōten began to help Shippō, and Kanna took Sōten's spot. She even had the grace not to flinch when the children pulled her hair too hard when Kanna finished and they all decided to braid Dekuyume's hair.

With a small smile Dekuyume simply relaxed as best she could, gazing up at the stars. And if the others in the camp had wondered at her bizarre hairstyle when they returned from the springs, she wore it with pride as she settled the children into the cart for the night. As everyone loaded in, and the cart resumed its journey to the exterminator village, Dekuyume surreptitiously glanced at the sky above a village that lied in their path. _Let the levity of tonight carry on for as long as it can. Tomorrow we will have dead to burry…_


	61. Love and Zombies

Chapter 60: Love and Zombies

 _It was quiet, too quiet._ They had been down this road many times before, but never had it been this quiet as they approached the curve in the road that held a small village halfway between Edo and the exterminator village. It put them all on edge, more so when they drew close enough to see the obvious signs of a yōkai attack scarring the village. Quietly, Dekuyume came to kneel behind the drivers seat, and began channeling power into the secondary seal that arched out over the posts attached to Clip-clop's harness. Several things happened at the same time: Kagome's eyes were drawn to the sky, Kohaku shouted, Inuyasha cursed, and Kagura cried out, "Dance of the Dragon!"

Clip-clop reared in fright as the the four twisters circled around the cart chaotically, but the security measures held, the holy aura on the cart purifying Kagura's magic out of the wind, causing it to dissipate. From his position high above the scene Naraku's eyes widened in surprise, almost comically so. _That…. That was amazing…_ His first teacher in magic had shown him how to see magic, and what his eyes had seen when the wind attack collided with the spell array he could sense shrouding the entire cart, _it had been so beautiful._ _Whom ever had crafted it was a_ _ **master**_ _… Only one question remained, was it the miko who's power he could not sense, or Kagome that had done so._

Kagura frowns in disappointment as her strongest attack is so easily turned aside by a holy aura that envelopes the cart. In the calm after the winds settle, her targets filter out the front and back of the cart to take up positions around it, searching for their attacker. She laughs quietly to herself. _They should have stayed inside where they were safe, they were at her mercy now, and after sitting on that miserable little hovel all night she wasn't feeling very merciful._ She waves her fan multiple times, throwing debris from her earlier assault on the village at them. The youngest exterminator shouts in fear, questioning if they were being attacked by ghosts. _Foolish boy, the dead are free of the suffering of the living, what reason would they have to come back here?_

It is Kagome who senses Kagura first, followed by Sango and Kohaku. Hiraikotsu and Kusarigama fly through the air towards the wind sorceress, but with a wicked smirk on her face she merely bats the offending objects out of the air, sending them flying dangerously back at their owners. With years of faith and practice, Sango caught Hiraikotsu easily and reattached it to her back, Kirara growling menacingly at her side, but Kohaku was not so lucky, catching the blade of his sickle in his shoulder. Gritting her teeth in rage, Sango shouted for him to get back to safety and drew her sword in a swift jerk.

Kagura took the opportunity to taunt them, "Yo. Tell me, are you always this rude to strangers, or am I just special." Inuyasha shouted in indignation, "Keh! Like you're one to talk wench." Kagura just used her fan to knock the pathetic fool down, "I am Kagura the wind sorceress, and I will be your death even as you dance to my tune."

Kohaku took the opportunity to run as Kagome provided covering fire with her sacred arrows. Kirara went with him to make sure that he made it into the cart safely. Unable to alter the trajectory of the arrows, only force other objects in the way or doge, Kagura was compelled to move to the ground below. _The humans hovels were fragile enough, they would probably collapse if she called up her winds as strongly as she intended to._ She lands on the ground in the middle of the village square, luring them closer, unaware of the trap she has laid for them.

In the stillness caused by the wake of another of Kagome's arrows, Sango and Inuyasha charge forward, swords ready. As Kagura moves to doge the arrow, she is forced to bend awkwardly as a second arrow, that had remained hidden in the comet of holy magic of the first, pierces the spot she would have placed herself in. _Where had that come from! How had she not seen it!_ But there was no time to find out as she dodged the clumsy swings of the boys attack, and parried the exterminators blade.

She sent her magic into the air, with the two so close to her the miko would be unable to fire another arrow. Her eyes are suspicious as the boys next attack goes wide, and the exterminator dives out of the way. From her position facing the two, it was obvious that the woman wouldn't have gotten more than a scratch on her arm had she remained still. _I refuse to believe that this exterminator is unaware of how minor it would have been… so what is going on?_

It doesn't matter, within a moment her magic has saturated the air once more, allowing her to surprise them all. Instead of pushing the two swordsmen away, she merely twirls and dances away from them gracefully before using her great control of the wind to pull the two priestesses closer. The wind sends a large wooden plank that had been torn off of one of the buildings flying into the two sisters backs, knocking them off their feet, and pushing them forward nearly 30 feet. Inuyasha shouts in anger, "Hey! Leave Kagome alone! I'm our opponent!" Dekuyume hits the ground hard, stunned by the pain radiating out of the bruises on her back. But Kagome had been taught how to fall correctly, and the young priestess merely holds her bow out to her side, tucks into a roll, and ends on her knees. She draws her bow back in, quickly notches an arrow and lets it fly.

Kagura is distracted by her taunts at the two fools swinging their swords futilely at her. _What fools, she was the wind, she could not be cut._ Her head jerks up and spots the arrow coming for her. With the exterminator behind her, the arrow coming in to her left, and the boy at her right, she chose the weakest way out. Stepping into Inuyasha's guard, pushing the flat of his blade out of her way with the palm of her hand, she used her fan to curl the winds around herself, preventing the edge of the arrow's corona from burning her. She received a cut on her palm from the boys blade, and her magic was forced from the wind once more, but it was much better than being dead by a holy arrow to the chest.

Kicking the boy in the shin and stunning him with a blow to the head from the blunt end of her fan, she used the space she had gained to move further into the village center. _Just a little bit more…_ Sango stares at the Dai-yōkai in horror as Murasame's curse fails to work. Dekuyume rises to her feet with a groan and Kirara's aid, and together with Kagome, Sango and Inuyasha they moved completely into the center of the village. The group stares at Kagura as she merely examines the wound with a wicked smirk, and almost idly, directs the puppets made of the villagers dead bodies to attack.

Dekuyume frowns as she blocks one of the dead men's attacks with her yin-yang tantō on her way to be closer to the other three. _It was unfortunate that Hiraikotsu and Kusarigama were useless against Kagura-chan, the weapons had to fly through the air to reach their target, and she could control the winds. Kirara was equally land bound, any attempts to fly only left her at the mercy of Kagura-chan's magic._ Inuyasha shouts "Why the hell isn't it working! She should be dead now!" _With Inuyasha still learning how to properly use his blade, the meat puppets not needing their hearts, and Kagura-chan not actually_ _having_ _her heart there to be affected by the curse, Murasame was actually a hindrance._

In the end, Kirara and the two swordsmen found themselves fending off the dead puppets as Kagome and Dekuyume used arrows to purify each one of them preventing Kagura from simply connecting her magic to them once more. Dekuyume laughs as Kagome shouts, "Zombies. Anesan! They're _Zombies_. Do you have any idea how unsanitary this is?!"

While the children huddled next to Kohaku as the herb mixture Jinenji had quickly prepared for the boy prevents him from bleeding too badly, Jinenji personally uses the power directing seal carved in the center of the cart to power the protections. _It wasn't pretty_ , he had not managed to access his chi yet, so he had been forced to use the quick and dirty method to get the seal to accept magic. He had cut open his palm with his claws and pressed it into the center of the array. The seal would do the rest of the work. _It wasn't so bad. He had bleed for worse reasons._

Zombies cleared out, Kagome and Dekuyume with their holy powered arrows were really the only ones who could attack. Hiraikotsu too was useful as it flew in the wake of Kagome's arrows, the three of them proved to be rather effective at putting the sorceress on the defensive, even if they didn't manage to hit her. It is only the surprise that comes when Dekuyume throws her yin-yang tantō charged with holy magic that they manage to get a break. Desperate to block the holy knife aimed at her chest, Kagura swings her fan. The resulting explosion of yōkai and holy magic shreds her kimono, damages her fan, and forces her to retreat.

As a defeated Kagura escapes, everyone notices a spider shaped scar on her back, and Dekuyume's knuckles go white, wishing that there was something, anything that she could do for her third daughter… _But there was no magic that Dekuyume could use to help her, not without getting her hands on the woman's heart. With the jar containing it buried beneath some of Naraku's strongest enchantments deep in the heart of the palace he had claimed for himself… Sure, she could call the heart from there using the same trick that Naraku did every time he wished to punish Kagura-chan, but he could just as easily call the heart back to the jar, even if Dekuyume did manage to get it sealed back inside her daughters chest. Until the jar itself was broken… Kagura-chan was trapped._

Naraku falls out of the sky to cover Kagura's escape, _It was a bit out of character for him, but she was the only incarnation he had that could spy on the group._ With a malicious grin at the furious recognition on Inuyasha's face he taunts the boy that had managed to steal the heart of Kikyō's reincarnation just as easily as he had the originals. _He knew the girl probably wasn't aware of her feelings yet, but he knew… Just the same way that he had known that Kikyō had already given her heart to Inuyasha when he took the boys appearance and placed himself before her._

"I am Naraku, tell me Inuyasha how does it feel to be human, day after day, so weak and frail. Does it hurt to know that you didn't even get Kikyō, that you had to settle for her reincarnation. That Kikyō had so little love and faith in you that a simple disguise was enough for me to convince her you were only pretending to love her so you could get your hands on the Shikon no Tama?" _That was odd. He could tell that his words had angered the boy, but… there was no surprise. Just how had he known?_ His distraction costs him.

Within his palace the connection to the puppet goes dark as it is defeated by the first proper use of Hiraikotsu. Naraku stares at the bowl of sake he had used in the spell, and the shikigami in the crude form of a man with a single strand of his hair wrapped around it, dangling into the sake. He shakes his head and sighs before going into the room he had chosen to place all of his genesis pods. _Who should he send next… he still needed more information._

Back in the village, Kagome slips her hand into Inuyasha's, giving him a comforting squeeze. Inuyasha pretends not to notice, glaring at the spot the puppet had stood, but gently squeezes back before letting go. Dekuyume walks over and picks up the split doll, and returning to the cart to oversee Kagome healing Kohaku, she quietly asks Shippō to use his fox fire to burn away the hair. The group is subdued as the adults settle in to burying the dead villagers; Jinenji digs the graves while Sango and Inuyasha fetch the bodies, and Dekuyume and Kagome say their last rites.


	62. The First Son

Chapter 61: The First Son

It was a relief to see the exterminators all up and on their feet when they passed through the gates. Kei was all too happy to swing his son around in a circle when Kohaku ran to him shouting with joy. Sango hugged her mother, whispering a quiet explanation for their delayed arrival. Dekuyume rested in the shade of a tree, the children quiet as they sat curled up around her. Jinenji unloaded the cart and began cleaning it out, before heading over to the potters to see if they had prepared the pots he had requested of them. Just as some of the village children ran up to ask who Dekuyume's newest child was, a group of exterminators headed out of the gates of the village. _It was good that the village was back in business as usual, I can only hope that they do not run afoul of Naraku's plans... Goshinki is next… Naraku, what will you do when I take your first son from you as well?_

In the quiet of the next few days, Kei took up more of his duties as leader of the clan, delegating the role of leader of the first hunting party to his daughter Sango. Sango took to the role with an odd mix of gusto and responsibility. With a quiet request, she had bowed to Dekuyume, knowing that the eldest priestess would be the one to make the decision. Because of her favorable response, the other members of what had once been the first hunting party were split between the secondary and tertiary groups. The strange mixture of miko, exterminators, hanyō and yōkai that had faced Kagura, would become the primary hunting party until such a time as the Shikon affair was settled. Settled against the tree she had claimed as her backrest, Dekuyume slowly applied the spells necessary to the pots so that they would provide the type of environmental conditions that Jinenji had requested. A shout shook her from her work. _The shout… it was the mournful cry of a woman who had lost someone dear to her._

Gingerly rising to her feet, cautious of the oddly slippery feeling on her back from where the wood had hit her so hard in the fight with Kagura, Dekuyume made her way to the gates of the village. There was a young man, laying bloody and unconscious, healing under the light of Kagome's magic. With a triumphant grin Kagome gently patted the young mans cheek, "Time to wake up." His eyes fluttered open, and he blushed, stammering, "M… Miko-sama!" His eyes quickly lost their light though, and a grim line settled across his lips. "Kei-sama, at the base of the mountain, the village that had been attacked by an oni… It's gone."

He rose to his feet, sharing his story with a saddened heart. Of all of the members of the quaternary hunting party that had gone, he was the only survivor, not because of his skill, but because the oni had wanted to send the exterminators a _message_. He was calling them out, demanding to face their best warriors. The young man wept, his heartbreak in his eyes as he described what the hunting party had found when they had entered the village. Everything that had bourn life in the village, the villagers, the chickens, goats and one lone horse, they had all been _butchered_. Their intestines and organs spread around the village in a grotesque display.

Their heads, sat in an organized pile around the villages well all in a parody of an altar, each with its eyes wide open in fear… even the children.

He spoke of the oni's cruel words, how he had toyed with the exterminators, speaking the words from their minds before they could even speak them. The young man cried when he issued the demons message. _Catch me if you can, or all the heads in Edo will sit around the bone eaters well._ There was no time to prepare, no time to load the cart, they had to leave, _now._ Briefly, she considered leaving the children in the village with Jinenji, but… _as strong as the exterminators were, and as dangerous as Goshinki-kun could be… they were hers now, and she would not leave their protection to uncertainties..._

So as the cart flew from the exterminator village as fast as Clip-clop could run, everyone was on board, eyes fierce. _They would make it in time to stop the oni… they had to, failure was not an option_. They made good time on their way to Edo, as tragic as it was, with the village at the base of the mountain now fallen to Goshinki, and the one at the bend fallen to Kagura, there were no more villages between Edo and the exterminator village. Clip-clop was soaked with sweat, even with the spells on the cart to make it light and easy to pull, the horse still ran the whole two days journey between the two villages in a single night, forsaking the beaten path and taking the direct line there, going through Inuyasha's forest.

With tense muscles, the fighters left the cart, examining the sleepy village with relief. _They had made it there before the oni… they had made it in time._ But only just barely. Kagome spins around senses alerted, drawing an arrow and firing it rapidly, acting on instinct. Goshinki howls with rage as he is surprised, the edge of the arrow's comet searing the skin on his arm before he managed to jerk it away in time. He disappears back into the forest before anyone can move to follow him. The spider shaped scar on his back, a violent red against his purple skin is a taunt. As they go to chase him into the forest Dekuyume shouts, "Wait!" The others pause and turn to her in surprise. Dekuyume frowns, staring into the forest, refusing to meet their eyes. Inuyasha shouts, "What the hell!? Whyd ya make us stop."

Dekuyume glares at him in mild irritation before looking at Sango. "Since when do Oni run away when they are surprised. Especially ones that have gone to great lengths to lure us so far away from the exterminator village." Sango grips Hiraikotsu tightly and Kohaku shifts closer to his sister in worry. "They don't…" Dekuyume turns her eyes back to the forest, "Can you still sense him imouto?" Kagome nods, and Inuyasha huffs, "Then what the hell are we standing around here for?" He launches himself into the forest without a second thought, causing Kagome to shout in surprise "Inuyasha-kun! Don't run off alone!" and chase after him. Dekuyume curses under her breath before shouting at the disappearing backs of Sango and Kohaku, "He was a Satori first!"

As she moves through the forest after them all, unable to run due to her health, she gestures for Jinenji to follow behind her with the cart. _Goshinki-kun…For all that his body was that of an oni, he was a satori first, and that was how she planned on stealing him from Naraku. His telepathy was_ _not_ _a typical oni trait, and his usage of the skill was textbook satori. Upon reading a person's mind, the satori would say the person's thoughts aloud faster than a human could, to cause fear and unease. They would appear before people at mountain huts, and would even try to eat and kill humans if they have a chance, but if something unexpectedly strikes them, they become stricken with fear due to fact that something unexpected occurred, and run away._ _ **Just like Goshinki-kun**_ **.**

 _The reason that being one was enough of a basis to free him from Naraku… The satori are the child incarnations of mountain gods who have come to ruin and turned into a yōkai form. Kami did not need their hearts the same way the living did, and so he could be freed._ Her expression is grim as she hears steel clash against bone, and her nails dig into her palms as she grips the shaft of her bow tightly. _She should be there for this… curse this frail body of hers!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The bastard had attacked viciously as soon as Sango and Kohaku had caught up to them. The bastard hadn't even had the decency to attack someone with a weapon drawn, instead he had gone for Kirara. Sango focused through her tears, glaring with rage at the oni, swinging Hiraikotsu with abandon. _How dare he! He_ _ **gutted**_ _Kirara_ _ **!**_ _How dare he!_ Kohaku stood next to Kagome inside of a barrier, Kusarigama at the ready, just in case the oni attacked while Kagome carefully pushed Kirara's intestines back into her stomach. It was difficult work, making sure that the intestines were clean and undamaged before she slid them back inside the wounded felines gut.

Inuyasha was having a difficult time, not only was Sango swinging her weapon around like a madwoman, making in it difficult to use Murasame without cutting her, but whenever he did manage to find an opening, the bastard oni just read his mind and dodged out of the way as if he were no more dangerous than a little kid swinging around a stick. _Damn it all!_ Just about the only good thing that came out of Sango's furious attack was the fact that be bastard didn't have enough time to run his mouth.

There was a reason that you weren't supposed to fight while enraged, it led to mistakes, often fatal ones. It wasn't much of a surprise then, that Goshinki managed to brutally remove the exterminator from the fight. His first attack had been calculated so that he would only have to fight them one at a time, two at most, and his second was designed to further demoralize them. His claws raked down the exterminators face, from crown to chin, before slicing through the front of her armor through her breasts down her stomach and groin slicing open the tops of her thighs as the pain reached her brain causing her to jerk away from the attack.

In a stunning display of agility for someone who was completely human, Inuyasha grabbed the exterminators flailing arm while her brother rushed forward. He spun in a circle, throwing the woman at Kohaku, and completing his spin just in time to raise Murasame against the oni's next attack. Kohaku pulled his anesan inside the barrier, panicked, and Kagome, who had just finished closing up Kirara's gut, was faced with her next patient. As Kagome began to heal the woman who had become a good friend, Kohaku tried to comfort his sister and Kirara rose shakily to her feet. _It would take a lot longer than a few minutes for her intestines to all settle back into their proper positions, but someone had to pay attention to the fight going on outside of the barrier._ Kirara's pained eyes focus on the once-was-a dog boy's fight in worry. _It was painfully obvious that the oni was toying with the boy, and the boy knew it, how could he not when the oni took such pleasure in tormenting him with its vicious words._

Suddenly Goshinki gets a devious grin on his face and his jaws snap forward into Inuyasha's attack. There is a screech of bone on metal as the oni bites down, nearly breaking the sword. Inuyasha is infuriated, but he cant help but think, _that's it you bastard, bite down just a little harder why don't you, let Murasame cut your gums and it's curse kill you._ Realizing the danger he is in through his telepathy, the oni punches the boy away, sending him colliding with a tree, before carefully reaching up and removing the blade from his mouth, catching the rest of the boys thoughts, he laughs malevolently.

Negligently he tosses the battered blade back to the boy, taunting, "It wouldn't have worked anyways, you see none of Naraku's incarnations keep their hearts anywhere _you_ can touch them. Face it you pathetic fool, you really are more of a hindrance than a help. That's why they always ignore you, but I shouldn't have to tell you that. After all, you knew that already, didn't you." Heart-stricken by Goshinki's words, a quiet fear that he had been carrying ever since Sesshōmaru had completely ignored his existence, Inuyasha is left staring at his whole, but battered sword.

This is the scene that greets Dekuyume and Jinenji as they finally crest the hill. Goshinki focuses on her, _this is the woman that Naraku was so worried about, the one who's mind he wanted read the most. So… first thing is first… What is your name?_ Eyes wild and red he dives into her mind, only to drown. She keeps her eyes locked on his, marching steadily forward, ignoring the others scattered around the clearing. She could feel him in her mind, her mind twists around his intrusion, bombarding him. _He wanted to know her name did he? Was she Magatsuhi? Was she Naraku? Was she one of those countless others, that she still remembered even now thanks to the void and the journal? Her name… what fit her best? The one that defined her beginning… or her end? Was Higurashi Dekuyume even her end? Or was it her beginning, so much to consider, and so many loops on her personal ouroboros._

So great is the storm of thoughts that he inspires with his probing question that he is unable to move and hear her thoughts at the same time. He remains motionless as she stands before him, not even stirring as she places a binding sutra on his chest. In a quiet voice she calls out to Jinenji, "It's over now, but we must hurry. I need you to carry him for me, too much of my magic is bound to the sutra keeping him immobile to use it to give me the strength I would need to carry him myself. She looks over at Kagome, checking on her sister's work. Kirara slowly lowers herself back to the ground, exhausted, and Kagome and Kohaku are still too worried about Sango to give her any attention. Glancing over at Inuyasha, she shakes him from his thoughts, "Inuyasha-kun, when the others are ready, follow us."

Watching carefully as Jinenji maneuvers the large oni over his shoulder, and is forced to stand upright so that he doesn't drag on the oni on the ground, she beckons him to follow her through the trees. As she walks, she prays to the one kami that she is most familiar with… _even if he doesn't know her_. Curious, Kiyoshi appears before the priestess walking across his domain. Catching sight of the abomination Naraku had made of a satori, he easily grasps her plan. He speaks, "Miko, go to the hill near the well to hatch him. I have already ceded that territory, _The Well of Time_ has already claimed a part of it, but the rest is unclaimed."

Dekuyume claps twice and bows to him in thanks. As they turn and begin to head in the direction of the well, Goshinki, freed of the mind trap Dekuyume had captured him in, begins to resist the sutra. _He knows what she is doing… and he is afraid._ She has to place her hand on the sutra to keep it functioning, a difficult thing when both the oni, and Jinenji are so very tall. Having difficulty climbing the hill and keeping her hand on the sutra, Jinenji picks her up and has her sit on his shoulder. The others arrive, relying heavily on the cart, or hobbling along just in time to witness his feat of strength. _He had lifted her with one hand_. In spite of the grimness of the situation at hand, Dekuyume had to smile. _They were so flabbergasted and… Kagome and Inuyasha were standing awfully close together…_ _clearly their hearts were coming together much more quickly without Kikyō's ghost coming between them._

At the top of the hill she has him set the two of them down at the very center of the small clearing there. She gauges Kagome's strength, before finding her magic levels satisfactory. "Imouto, I need you to come over here and hold the sutra in place until you feel it no longer connecting to Goshinki-kun's magic." Sango, barely conscious, recoils in disgust. _Goshinki-_ _ **kun?**_ _!_ _The oni's a monster! Look at what he did to Kirara! To me?!_ Kohaku grips his sister tight, just as offended, but unwilling to let Sango get close to the oni again. As Dekuyume and Kagome exchange positions, Dekuyume reaches into the folds of her kimono jacket, pulling out a red hair ribbon and two fans. The group is left staring in wide eyed surprise as Dekuyume begins to perform a dance meant to quell a kami's anger… _Just what was she doing? Was she insane? Had the mind reading oni scrambled her brains?_


	63. The Little Mountain

Chapter 62: The Little Mountain

Goshinki hisses through his paralysis as he is slowly purified by the sutra, violently resisting as his mind is bombarded by his own memories from before Naraku…

 **He was a kami once, and though he held a fire deep in his heart, he was gentle. How could he not be, when of all the beings that graced his mountain, the deer were his most favored.**

Goshinki flinches, twitching underneath Kagome's hand. Jinenji reaches out to hold the oni down, only to be forced to pull his hands back. Kagome was channeling too much holy magic into the sutra causing it to spillover and prevent Jinenji from touching Goshinki. Determined to protect the young woman who had been so very kind to him, Jinenji bears the burning of the holy magic to hold the oni down. Goshinki's eyes go out of focus once more.

 **He existed in peace for many years.. until the humans came. They tore his peaceful gardens apart with their blades as they made a way for their carts. It was insulting, but he tolerated it, the humans would be gone from his area soon enough. Except… they weren't.**

Goshinki shakes violently underneath Jinenji's grip, a scream of pain tearing from his throat as Dekuyume performs a delicate triple spin, her fans and kimono floating in the air. Goshinki glares at her with hate filled eyes that hide his fear before he is dragged under once more.

 **Falling.. The humans… those disgusting beings, they settled into the small clearing that his most favored slept in each night, drinking their poisonous intoxicants, and further damaging his garden… and when… when his precious deer… his gentle, beloved deer returned to their sleeping spot for the night…they walked right into the clearing with the humans, he had not taught them to fear humans… he should have.**

Goshinki screams in rage and denial, his yōkai magic spiraling madly, slowly losing any semblance of stability… He closes his eyes tightly, as if closing his eyes would close his mind away from the tragic end…

 **Falling…The humans… drunken on their intoxicants… they had… they had… they had** ** _fornicated_** **with is deer before gutting them, smearing their intestines around his sacred place and collecting their heads as trophies… not even the pregnant does and young fawns were spared the horror…**

Kagome's hand trembles against the sutra, her heart clenching painfully as a mournful cry, long and drawn out, saturated with suffering pours itself out of Goshinki's throat…

 **Fallen…His heart had stirred in rage then, and he had released his pyroclastic flow upon them and smothered his mountain in lava. On the cooled remains of his outburst, a kami died, and a satori awoke, a heart full of rage and so very angry…**

Dekuyume moves into the final steps of the Kagura dance swaying gently to a drum beat only she can hear.

 **No amount of time could cool his anger, not even after the grass had re-grown and trees had once more spread across the mountain, not even the return of deer. Because all they did was remind him of what he had seen. And then the yōkai had come, and lured him into the pit that had been his once-heart, the result;**

 **he fell even further than he had known possible.**

Goshinki's eyes open hazily to watch as the miko comes to a stop and bows… he is so confused… _Why was she bowing to him. Miko only bowed to kami…_ His mind scrambles for understanding… and as he reaches for it, he is set free… his anger left behind in the body that is instantly purified away by Kagome's magic.

There is a blinding flash of light as the oni's body disintegrates, and as she is bowing, Dekuyume is the only one who is not left temporarily blinded. The light wraps around Kagome first, from where she sits at the epicenter. It refreshes her magic and caresses her soul gently as moves around her. The light crashes over Kirara, Sango and Inuyasha healing them of any injuries they had incurred. Jinenji, who had reassumed his usual hunched pose the moment he no longer had to stand up straight to prevent Goshinki from dragging on the ground as he was carried… he is left humbled and awed as the light encourages him to stand up, tall and proud as his burns from Kagome's holy magic are wiped away as if they had never been.

The light zips through the cart, tickling each of the children before blowing out the back and swirling through the air, collecting in front of Dekuyume, where she still remains in her bow. Their eyes open in awe as the light settles into the form of a small boy with pale green hair, white irises, and dressed in the robes of a kami. He giggles and waives at them before turning to the bowed miko with an oddly mature, fond smile. Gently he places his hand on the back of her head before removing it, bidding her to rise. Dekuyume tries, honestly she does, but… _she is very ill_ , and so her legs collapse underneath her from the strain of her previous activities. She smiles sheepishly at the young kami who just shakes his head in exasperation before leaning forward and whispering in her ear.

Dekuyume smiles before clapping her hands together and making a seated bow, "This Dekuyume prays to Ambrosia of _The Little Mountain_. May you never again lose your heart to the folly of men." The young boy snorts, ruffling the back of his own pale green hair, a mixture of skeptical and embarrassed. Kagome grins coming to sit next to her sister, before mimicking her actions. "This Kagome prays to Ambrosia of _The Little Mountain._ Thank you for healing my friends, where I no longer had the strength to." One by one, Kohaku then Sango and even a reluctant Inuyasha come over to pray to the young kami.

There are smiles and giggles from the little kami as Kirara shrinks down into her kitten form and curls around the kami's legs kitty-thanking him. Trembling and awed, but uncertain of his welcome, Jinenji comes to kneel with the humans, awkwardly copying actions that he has never made before in all 40+ years of his life. Ambrosia's eyes close and he lets out a soft sigh as the weight of Jinenji's regard settles upon him. He flies up and touches Jinenji's hands gently, causing the hanyō to open his eyes and stare at the kami before him. Ambrosia's hands ghost gently against Jinenji's arms, before he meets the hanyō's eyes directly with a soft smile.

Ambrosia comically flexes his arms and Jinenji shrugs negligently, "I'm not that strong, there are many others much stronger than I am…" Ambrosia huffs repeating his caress of Jinenji's _scars_ before bringing his hand in to gently touch his heart. Jinenji's eyes widen in surprise as the kami's message gets through. _You have suffered so much, and your heart is still strong._ Under the gentle ministrations of a newborn kami, Jinenji weeps, finally letting go of all the sorrow he had been carrying.

Realizing that the new kami was done greeting his creators Kiyoshi approaches and offers to show him around now that they were neighbors.

Hundreds of miles away Naraku is left staring in shock at the jar that held Goshinki's heart as it shatters with a flash of miko magic. _Impossible…_ _Goshinki had been a powerful oni wrapped around a fallen kami… how had he been defeated!?_

They all slept in Edo that night, and after a brief explanation of the events that led to their presence, Kaede went to arrange for small shrine to the new kami to be made. Everyone was in unusually high spirits after the kami had blessed them… Everyone except for Inuyasha that is, and for good reason. Murasame had been badly damaged by Goshinki, and while it was still whole, it needed much more than just a good sharpening and cleaning; it needed a sword smith…

Hidden in some bushes, ones he had hidden in when the oppressive aura of the oni had descended upon Edo, was Myōga… He mutters, as he waffles back and forth in is thoughts, from her position resting in the shade of the tree in front of Kaede's hut Dekuyume watches him with deep red eyes. "Should I tell them of Tōtōsai? But… Tōtōsai is a vassal of the House of the Moon, for that matter _I_ am too. And humans cannot be lords in a house of yōkai… So telling Inuyasha-sama about Tōtōsai would be treason… Ah… he isn't really my lord any more now that he is human is he? And since he is no longer my lord, I can return to the palace… and all the tasty blood I can feast on…" Nodding to himself in self acknowledgement the tiny flea yōkai hops away without anyone but Dekuyume the wiser for his presence.

Her eyes follow his departure, and her expression disguises the anger she feels on the boys behalf. _Who would have thought that she of all people would think that Inuyasha-kun deserved to be treated better…_ Glancing over to Inuyasha, she mildly comments, "Saya-san, the spirit who served as the sheath for Sō'unga was once a vassal to your father. In our few conversations, he mentioned a fire yōkai by the name of Tōtōsai-san who served as your father's blacksmith. There is no one in the future with the ability to re-forge Murasame, nor would I trust anyone but a master sword smith with the enchanted blade. I know where he lives, if you want to see if we can persuade him to help."

Inuyasha stares at the sickly miko in surprise… _she made no attempt to disguise what she felt_ _and finally… finally he gets it. All this time and he hadn't really understood why they let him tag along, they clearly didn't need him for anything, sure he may have taken out those two thunder yōkai… but since then he hadn't done anything but get in the way._ He ducks his head, hiding his grey eyes behind his thick black bangs. Dekuyume rises from her seat, and as she passes by him to go check on the children, she pats him on the shoulder.

With Kaede out overseeing the construction of a shrine to Ambrosia, there was no one there to see him brush the tears away from his eyes. _Here, with this human skin and all its weaknesses… he was part of a pack… and that meant that he would never be left behind again._


	64. The Sword Smith

Chapter 63: The Sword Smith

He looks at the trash that had dared to stand in his way with disdain. _They were hardly troublesome to slay with his poison-acid whip, none of them had even come close to dirtying his kimono. However…_ His eyes travel up to where his two headed dragon steed, and its two tiny passengers hovered in the sky. The dragon responds to his summons, coming to land before the young lord. Rin, the precocious human child he had resurrected tumbles off the dragon's back as he lands. She falls gently into the thick grass that had hidden their attackers and tumbles through it to come to a rest at his feet. From her position upside down on her back she grins her gap-toothed smile at him, "Sesshōmaru-sama is amazing! There were so many bad people and none of them managed to even get to him!"

Sesshōmaru tunes out Jakens squawking in response to the girl's obvious statement, focusing instead on his sense of smell. _The child would need a bath soon, but she did not appear to be harmed. That was good, had he not added that extra bit of power to his whip to lengthen it…_ He closes his eyes and turns back in the direction they were heading before they were so rudely interrupted. _There were no yōkai of reasonable enough strength to consider hunting them down for parts to make another yōkai blade like Sō'unga. Anything that he could destroy with the two tiny beings following him around like pups would not get him a blade of any merit, and he dare not leave the girl at the palace while he went out to hunt down greater foes. The distain that had chased Izayoi from the palace had only grown when he had been made the lord. He had not seen a reason to deal with it, and he was unwilling to have Rin pay for that lapse in judgment._

He stops, and with a minute gesture he lets his pack know that they will rest here for the night. _But he needed a blade, he no longer had the excuse of pursuing the Tessaiga, and_ … his eyes are drawn to Rin where she is giggling smothering Jaken in flowers she has picked as they moved by. _This Sesshōmaru is a great and powerful yōkai, but I am_ _even_ _better_ _with a sword._ He closes his eyes mentally reviewing the small note he had received from his border patrol the day before. _Higurashi and her pack was seen heading up the path to Tōtōsai's forge. If she could not be persuaded to grant him another blade, then the sword smith could easily be forced._

A young girl squats down to examine a flower as if it held the secretes of the universe hidden within its petals. With a brilliant smile, she reaches out and claims it for her own. Though she did not know it… Rin was a extraordinary little girl. She found a champion and father figure in a yōkai that most feared, a friend in a yōkai that most found intolerably annoying, she… had died and been returned to life, and while she was terribly afraid of wolves now, as long as her lord was there… _she would not run away, from anyone or anything._ She had roamed the countryside in the presence of beings most humans called monsters, and she had found herself better cared for than even her mother and father had before the last winter sickness took them away. She had seen so much violence in her short life, and yet her heart was so incredibly innocent and full of faith… Was it really any wonder that the Lord of the West had so easily accepted her as part of his pack? As she finishes decorating the little kappa with the flowers she had picked, she grins and scampers off to the river she can hear whispering through the trees. _Bath time~ bath time~ I wonder what kind of flowers will grow next to the river, perhaps while I have a bath I can catch a fish for dinner!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Finally at least one of them was dead and wasn't coming back… for a while at least. Unfortunately, in the wake of **_another_** world ending event, one of them had managed to make a time machine  and use it. _Was there nothing sacred anymore!?_ There were no security features, or anti-paradox functions so it was chaos throughout the immortal plain as everyone was forced to scramble to keep the universe from falling apart at the seams. There was so much work to do that it was all hands on deck, and lucky him, as one of Kiyoshi's friends, he was the one who had to tell him that he had to stop playing human and help out. _Never mind that it may very well be the last thing the flickering kami did._

Koenma grimaces as he steps through a portal at the bottom of the steps to Kiyoshi's shrine. _Blast it all! This was the last time he let anyone but Boton-chan make a portal for him again!_ He glares down at his short legs, then up the long cratered pathway of stairs he can't see the end to. _He had so much paperwork to do! He didn't have time to be stuck here in this destroyed wasteland climbing stairs like he was on the stair machine to hell!_

He takes a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder at the devastation that the Androids had wrought on all of the major cities in the world. Tokyo was just one of many that had been turned into a desolate, crumbling ruin. _It was a surprise that Kiyoshi-san had survived, but the record books still showed him as a the Primary Operator for The Sacred Tree…_ He turns around and takes the first of many steps, only to pause in wide eyed shock. He looks at the pristine path before him, birds chirping merrily in the leafy green trees lining the path. The hustle and bustle of the city behind him reaches his ears, and two gossiping women pass him on the steps as he remains standing there with one foot on the first step to the shrine. He watches them climb all the way up to the top, and hears Kiyoshi's wife call out to them in greeting.

Slowly his head turns around to confirm the millions of people moving through the streets of Tokyo with his eyes, barely able to comprehend. Slowly, ever so slowly he picks his foot up and the moment he loses contact with Kiyoshi's territory… The bustling city faded, leaving only the ruined remains of Japan's capitol.

He steps completely onto the first step of the shrine and off, on and off, on and off, before he is finally forced to concede defeat. He sits on the step to the shrine, sinking his face into his hands. _More time travel… and a dimensional warping field surrounding Kiyoshi-san's shrine too..._

 _Oh my merciless self…. The paperwork this was going to generate… and Enma was going to make him do it all…._

He weeps.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome jerking her head off to the western sky was their first hint that things were about to get interesting. At least, more interesting than having the old _probably_ senile fire yōkai Tōtōsai alternately stare in wonder at Murasame, or the exterminator's gear while intermittently asking who everyone was… again. Kagome's stuttered, "He… He can fly?!" was their second hint, and their third? Their third was when Kagome looked over at Inuyasha biting her bottom lip. "Inuyasha-kun? Your Aniki…." He barely has time to tense as the cloud of yōkai magic that Sesshōmaru is standing on lowers to the ground before dissipating. Dekuyume has to smile as she spots the two headed dragon, and the kappa helping a little girl get off. _Ah… so he found her. That was good..._ She shakes her head in exasperation. _Missing an arm again too…_

The two groups examine each other, and Rin stares at Dekuyume curiously from behind one of Sesshōmaru's pant legs. _The tall lady with the red eyes… she looked so kind. She seemed familiar too. Had Rin met her before?_ Slowly, Rin comes out from behind Sesshōmaru. While it is a little scary having so many strangers staring at her in surprise, under the safety of her lord's eyes, she comes forward to stand before Dekuyume. Dekuyume obligingly sinks down to her knees with a soft warm smile. "Hello. My name is Dekuyume. It's good to see that Sesshōmaru-san's heart has managed to open up enough to let someone as adorable as you inside." Rin's hands are gentle as she reaches out to touch her face, trying to figure out why this miko seems so familiar. With a small breath, Rin speaks to a human for the first time since her parents deaths. "Hello Dekuyume-sama, Rin's name is Rin. Have we met before?"

 _No. Not in the way you mean, but… you were Ito once… my first daughter who lived in agony for less than an hour._ Slowly so as to not scare the girl, Dekuyume reaches out and ruffles the girls hair, pulling a small giggle from her. "No. I don't believe we have, I don't ever think I could forget someone like you." Sesshōmaru watches his pup greet the other pack's alpha, and noticing all of the other children peeking at Rin from behind the miko, he finds that he cannot resist the urge to tease. "Higurashi, are you so discontent with the number of pups you already tend to, that you would steal mine as well?" He ignores the dumbfounded expression on Inuyasha's face, watching the miko intently as she throws her head back in a laugh.

She rises gingerly to her feet, waiving off the children to go play in sight of the adults before turning back to Sesshōmaru. "I suppose it does seem that way, doesn't it?" Her eyes travel over his empty sleeve, and pointedly passes over Tenseiga in his obi. "I see that Sō'unga has been dealt with, and I am sorry for the price you had to pay for it, though… It was worth it I think." She turns away from him to watch the children explaining hopscotch to Rin who smiles excitedly before taking her turn.

Sesshōmaru merely nods in response to her query, and Dekuyume walks over to Tōtōsai. "Great sword smith Tōtōsai-san. It appears that Sesshōmaru-san is in need of a blade with which to protect his adopted daughter. Please see to him before beginning work on Murasame. While our needs are no less than his, there are many more of us, each as capable as the next." She grins, "Who knows, maybe we will be able to persuade you to travel with us to the exterminator village so that their craftsmen can answer the questions sloshing around in your addled brain."

Tōtōsai sputters for a moment, before muttering, "I may not look like much but I am a yōkai, those exterminators would slaughter this old man." Dekuyume merely smiles as Sango explains the exterminators policy on peaceful yōkai, and admits that while she knows enough about how to repair Hiraikotsu, the craftsmen know much, much more. The old man mutters to himself before meandering back into his forge, coming back with a pair of giant pliers. He cackles quietly to himself as he approaches the dog lord, only to freeze in his tracks as said lord glares down at him, a single eyebrow raised in challenge. Tōtōsai gulps, his knees knocking together as Sesshōmaru's hand rises. _Oh kami, he was going to get whipped for this! See! See this is why he never wanted to make the bastard a sword! Sure the blade would be matchless, but gathering the materials to forge it was lethal!_

He stares in surprise when in a single efficient movement, Sesshōmaru uses his acidic poison to remove one of his fangs, cauterizing the wound before blood can spill. He holds it out to the sword smith who takes it with a shaking hand. He jumps startled when out of nowhere, the human covered in Sesshōmaru's scent chirps, "Rin wants to help too! See! Rin's tooth is loose and will come out like all the others before growing back!" Dekuyume chuckles, pulling out a small cloth as she kneels next to Rin once more. "If you're sure you want to give a part of yourself to make Sesshōmaru-san stronger, I'm sure that it's for the best. Just remember, this might sting a little, and you shouldn't swallow any of the blood. Spit it out, and then Kagome-chan over there waiving will heal you all up ok?"

Rin nods her head enthusiastically, tilts her head back and says, "Ah~" Swiftly, using a small measure of her magic to dull the pain, she pulls the loose baby tooth, placing it in the silk handkerchief. She smiles as Rin runs off, and folds the fabric around the tooth. She rises and hands it to Tōtōsai. "There isn't much magic in human teeth, but humans only lose their first set naturally, usually at the cusp of puberty. That's why we call them baby teeth. Keep it wrapped in the silk until you are ready to use it, otherwise what little magic it does have will dissipate." Sesshōmaru's eyes narrow as he watches the miko move back to her travel wagon. _The woman was very ill, but if she kept taking liberties with his pup, illness or no illness, she would pay._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sighs as she watches all of her companions sleep. It was another sleepless night, _she couldn't afford too many of these, but it was safe enough here._ She meets Inuyasha's eyes and nods at him. The two rise and quietly, she grabs two bottles of water and gets out of the cart, dressed in only her tank top and hakama. Unsurprisingly, Tōtōsai could be quite motivated when he so chose, so the sword smith could be heard still pounding away at his forge.

Inuyasha is quiet as he walks along slightly behind her. Sesshōmaru was not asleep either, sitting at the edge of the cliff while Rin and Jaken slept curled up next to A-Un. His eyes are sharp molten gold in the moonlight, Inuyasha's position following Dekuyume, the way he holds himself, and the way that the boy meets his gaze tell him more about the changes in the boy's life than a conversation ever could. He inclines his head in acknowledgement, startling the boy. Inuyasha's eyes widen in surprise, and Dekuyume's quiet mutter, "Go check on Tōtōsai-san.", sends him off before he can ruin anything with thoughtless words.

Sesshōmaru turns away from them, _there was a strange sense of relief moving through him, and for a moment, he was at a loss for why._ Sesshōmaru quietly sighs, ignoring Higurashi as she sits near him at the edge of the cliff. _It shouldn't surprise this Sesshōmaru. Inuyasha was our half-brother, and we are not so uncouth as to hate our blood kin, no matter how much shame they bring upon our house._ His eyes travel briefly to the woman next to him, but do not linger for long. He may have sat beside her in the form of a man, but he was an Inu-yōkai first. Her magic laden sent was far more potent now that she was not suppressing it, but still subtly blending into the night. It was complex, a sign of a deep thinker, or an old, powerful soul.

His nostrils flare as she raises her strange water storage container and takes a drink, the slight breeze caressing her skin with the latent heat of the fields below. _The flowers were the prominent feature, a royal garden full of poisonous, hallucinogenic, and lethal flowers all a bloom under a harvest moon. The implied threats of deceit, corruption and death soothed away by the presence of a gentle stream of water entwined throughout, and aglow with lightning bugs. Though… the insects used their lights to attract either mates… or prey… so perhaps the threat was merely carefully hidden._ His eyes close in contentment, not even the stench of mortality and blood-sickness are enough to blot out the rest of her scent. _Yes. He would not have to worry about the boy again with this woman as his alpha. His half-brother would be safe, and well cared for, even if he was still a disappointment._

Dekuyume takes a long drink out of her water bottle, before setting down the other in the space between them. He ignores it, and the two sit in silence for hours before Dekuyume speaks. "I suppose that no one really knows if they are ready or not for children. When we adopted the first one I had to run all the way back home to my Kaasan for reassurance." She glances over at him before taking another sip of her water, "If you ever need to know something, you don't have to go and threaten the information out of a human village, we're all perfectly willing to help." Sesshōmaru turns his head slightly to glare at her. _If the woman was insinuating that he could not care for his pup…_

Dekuyume continues, "Don't look at me like that. She is almost to the right age where she will begin to mature into a young lady. If you would rather explain the monthly bleeds to her that's your right as her father and alpha…" Sesshōmaru can't help but shudder, _he would_ _ **not**_ _be explaining that to his pup!_ He spots her poorly hidden smirk from behind her water container, but ignores it. _What a_ _ **vexing**_ _woman._

They sit in silence for another hour before Dekuyume finally feels tired enough to sleep through the pain of laying down on her bruised back. She rises to her feet and as she departs she speaks quietly, "For what it is worth, I think you are very strong to love her. Forever, is a long time to miss someone you only had once." As she reaches the cart, he deigns to speak for the first time that night. "Is that your excuse for this emotional weakness before your Becoming?"

Dekuyume glances over her shoulder at him, her single visible red eye glinting in the moonlight. "No, it is my promise to still be here when she comes back into the world once more. So that she never, ever has to face it alone."


	65. Spider Scars

Chapter 64: Spider Scars

Dawn came depressingly early that morning. It felt like she hadn't got a moments rest, and while the children all appeared to be getting along, Jaken was clearly getting on everyone's nerves. Kagome and Inuyasha sat close together, but with a decent amount of space between them, Jinenji was with Clip-clop tending to the horse so that it did not suffer from heatstroke in this hot sulfurous environment, and Sango was taking advantage of the sword smiths tools to work on Hiraikotsu.

Kohaku was standing with the other children, and Dekuyume had to stifle her laugh when Rin asked him, "Ne. Are you a ninja?" All eyes are drawn to the doors of the smithy as Tōtōsai steps out, two blades in hand. He hands the first over to Inuyasha before walking over to the Lord of the West with the other. He hands the blade to the young lord reverently and Sesshōmaru accepts it. He turns and leaves, without waiting to even hear the blade's name. A-Un trails along behind him with Rin and Jaken on his back. Kagura, hidden by the wind, watches as the beautiful, _powerful_ , flying yōkai on his pretty cloud travel past her. She is stricken by a flight of fancy that tastes like fate. _She was going to call that man hers one day._

Dekuyume can only shake her head in exasperation, while Tōtōsai mutters about the lords rudeness. It's quite an ordeal to get all of the…things, that Tōtōsai insists are quite important to bring to the exterminator village. Dekuyume simply helps the children with their lessons while the others deal with him. _I wonder how Sesshōmaru-san will feel to have such a… pretty sword. It will seem weak at first, but as he uses it… well exponential growth is only pathetic in the beginning now isn't it? At the end, it's always a typhoon._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

There was silence on all fronts for weeks after leading Tōtōsai back to the exterminator village. There were a few missions out to help people desperate for some sort of relief from the yōkai that besieged them. While in most cases the requests were justified, occasionally, it was the humans that were in the wrong, the growing sizes of their villages trespassing into areas that the yōkai had claimed for themselves. There wasn't much that could be done in those circumstances, leaving a vague sense of dissatisfaction behind. It would be wrong to ask the yōkai to move from what had been their homes for centuries, and the humans were too small minded to see that they were in the wrong.

The exterminators would decline the mission… only to hear that a group of holy people under the service of a monk named Ungai had accepted. The exterminators knew of him, and his reasons for hating all yōkai to the point where yōkai and innocent were antonyms. They would not attack him, the exterminators did not feel comfortable hunting the servants of kami, no matter how reprehensible his behavior. But he was not welcome in their village, nor would they aid him or his followers in any of their missions.

There was no sign of Naraku or the missing jewel fragment. Dekuyume certainly couldn't tell anyone that the bandits currently plaguing the southern part of the island of Honshu were led by a moth yōkai in possession of the missing fragment. Nor could she tell anyone Naraku's current whereabouts, or that they should enjoy this period of almost restfulness while they still could. _Tomorrow on the trip back to the exterminator village…_

Dekuyume sips at some tea she had brought from their early morning trip back from the future, while the children all work on their abilities in a semicircle around her. Kagome had another set of tests the day before, and she had received her scores from the first set. The girl had shocked everyone spiritually sensitive in the city of Tokyo when her corona of power had eclipsed the city. The shock of getting a 100% on her math test had caused her to release her magic and her joy without any reservations, and the lack of any large sources of yōkai magic meant that the wave of power had encountered nothing to diminish its intensity. Unsurprisingly, even though none of the weak yōkai in the city had perished, there was still a mass exodus to the surrounding areas. Also unsurprisingly, Sōta, recognizing the source of the power surge, teased Kagome about it mercilessly for the rest of the night. _Ah… little brother vs. middle child, always a good source of entertainment._

She dismisses the children from their studies to go play with the village children of Edo. Feeling every bit of her curse as she rises and makes her way up the path to _The Well of Time,_ and then the freshly prepared shrine to Ambrosia, Dekuyume kneels and prays to him. With a muted cry the young kami appears before her, throwing himself into her arms. She smiles bemusedly, returning the embrace. "What troubles you my son?" Ambrosia pulls back, and with timid movements, turns his back to her, and lowers his kimono. A spider shaped scar is rot-black against his pale skin, and with a gentle movement, Dekuyume leans forward and kisses it gently.

She pulls as much of Naraku's magic out of it as she can, leaving the scar a plant-scar brown. Wrapping his kimono back around him, she pulls him into her lap, resting her head on top of his. As he cries quietly in relief, she whispers, "I know. I know…" She remains up there with him until the sun sets and they hear Kagome calling for her. She rises, "As much as I would hate to have you far away. It will hurt less if you remain on the immortal plain." Ambrosia gives his savior one last hug and smiles as she ruffles his pale green hair, before fading away. Dekuyume makes her way back down into the village guided by the purple glow of her light spell. Kagome grins as she spots her sister, offering her one of the fish that had been cooked for dinner.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume sits quietly in the early morning light, the children curled up around her like puppies in their sleep. Kagome too would have been surrounded by children, but the girl had a tendency to kick in her sleep if her legs weren't wrapped up in a sleeping back or a nightgown. Also… the children, with their heightened senses could tell. It wouldn't be long now before the blood disease that had been plaguing her, won. Her smile twists bitterly for a moment, before Sōten makes a disgruntled noise, and the smile softens again as her hand resumes combing through the sleeping girls unbound hair.

 _The disease would not be killing her this time, but it would stop her from being of much use in the next fight. It would be hard, agonizingly hard. Jūrōmaru-kun was a berserker, brutally strong, and disturbingly fast. Last time the fight had been won because the wolf prince and a inu-hanyō Inuyasha had worked together… With the wolf dead, and Inuyasha human, none of the fighters in their pack could match Jūrōmaru-kun for speed or strength. The puppets of Naraku scattered about, hidden by Kagura-chan's wind would see to it that Kagome-chan did not come to harm because of Jūrōmaru-kun's berserker rage, but everyone else… a single mistake and they could all die._

Dekuyume smiles gently at Sōten as the girl sits up, ribbing her eyes groggily. In silence, she helps the girl get her hair back into her buns, and out of the tent with all of her siblings blocking the way. Slowly all the children rose from their slumber, one by one and left to go play out in the village. When it was just Dekuyume and Kagome left in the tent, the ruby eyed miko sighed in exasperation at her deeply sleeping sister. She knelt next to the girl, and with a gentle touch down the side of Kagome's face from hairline to chin, and the brush of her aura against the others, woke her. Kagome stirred and with a small groan of unhappiness, got up to prepare for the day.

Dekuyume left the girl in the tent and went over to where Jinenji was harnessing Clip-clop for their trip back to the exterminators village. Gingerly climbing into the cart past the freshly sprouting baby herbs in the pots near the back, she has to hide a smirk as she spots Inuyasha hiding in the shade of Kaede's hut, staring intently at the tent, waiting for Kagome to emerge. _It should have always been like this, the gravity of their soul mating pulling them closer and closer together, falling hard and fast into the emotion called love. In the end, with all things measured, that witch that had resurrected Kikyō-chan had done more harm to the kami's plans than Naraku._

Dekuyume sighs, tilting her head back to allow the breeze to play with her hair. She feels Kagome's approach, and opens her eyes to greet her when she settles next to her. An eyebrow rises when she spots the shrewd expression on Kagome's face. Kagome leans forward and hugs her sister, bemused Dekuyume returns the embrace, but the confusion fades at Kagome's softly muttered, "I'll be careful, whatever it is that's coming that has you so worried. We'll all be ok, I promise." Dekuyume can only hum in response for fear that all of her secrets would come tumbling out if she began to speak.

Kagome leans back and smiles brilliantly at Inuyasha as he climbs into the cart, pausing to help all of the children in as well. She scoots over to him and begins talking with him quietly while all of the children scurry over to Dekuyume and begin chattering away about the game they had played that morning. Dekuyume leans back against the side of the cart as the exterminator siblings and Kirara join them inside, and Jinenji sets it in motion. Lulled by her general state of exhaustion, the brush of Kagome's soul against her own, and the tiny beings clustered around her Dekuyume falls asleep.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Malevolent red eyes shine in the dark. Several puppets, and the chained form of his newest incarnation stood in the shadows of the trees around the hot springs that Kagome's group stopped at on their way to the exterminator village. It was unlikely that they would be able to catch them off guard given Kagome's vast sensitivity range. However, with all of Kagura's magic in the air, and the similarities between Kagura's magic, the puppets, and the shackled boy the girl should at least have some difficulty spotting all of their assailants. _So far, the only information he had managed to collect on them had come from third party sources and long distance observation. Taking advantage of his incarnations predilections for treachery, he had created this one. The boy was a savage little beast while he was in his berserker mode, and his little surprise was charming in its depravity._

He watches as Kagome's cart rolls to a stop several meters away allowing the adults capable of combat out at a safe distance. Sharp red eyes notice immediately that Inuyasha does not take the lead position. He shifts restlessly in surprise in his castle, so very far away from where his puppet's watch. His surprise as the eldest miko takes up the front, showing herself as the leader of their pack, is nothing compared to the unnerving feeling he gets when her red eyes meet his. _What was this woman, to offer no sign of hostility and still make him feel as if he were staring into the open earth of his own grave._

Her voice is even and calm as she speaks, "What business have you with us now Naraku? Perhaps you have seen the error of your ways, and are here to give us your fragment of the Shikon? Ah… but if you were then you would have brought it with you, so that can't be it." She smiles wickedly tilting her head to the side, and he spots an echo of what can only be malevolence, softened and patient, but malevolence none the less. "Perhaps you are here to surrender another of your children to my care?" Naraku stiffens in indignation, "Strong words for a woman slowly drowning in her own blood. You will not be able to steal this one from me. Jūrōmaru is feral, he won't follow you anymore than he does me. Kagome will come with me, or I will unshackle the beast and set him upon you while I remain in the safety of my castle." He smiles wickedly back at them from beneath his white baboon pelt, "You will not survive the encounter."

He is answered by Kagome herself, and a sacred arrow that destroys his puppet before he can even think to dodge. In his castle he shakes his head with a sigh. _This was getting ridiculous, the remains of Onigumo were growing stronger each time that they came close to Kagome, even by the proxy of the puppets. He didn't know what was worse, that or the fact that slowly other parts of his collective soul were finding themselves admiring the girls overwhelming power, and the way that all of the bonds she formed kept her from falling to arrogance, the way that so many great beings did._ A second puppet, hidden in the forest, says the release words, setting Jūrōmaru upon them. He smiles viciously as Jūrōmaru moves immediately to Inuyasha and his blinding red outfit. The exterminators are hard pressed to help him, and all three wind up standing with their backs to one another, fending off the incarnations blows. Each strike either renders them bruised and staggered from blocking the blow, or bloody from being unable to block.

His ruby eyes watch carefully as Jūrōmaru pivots on his heel, hurtling himself towards the two miko standing side by side, however, the barrier cast by Kagome repels him, and Naraku relaxes. He grits his teeth and clenches his hand when he catches himself relaxing. _This was exactly what he was talking about, too easily did he fall to Onigumo's weakness. Were he more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of these people struggling under the brutal onslaught of Jūrōmaru, he would have been comfortable beginning the preparations to eject Onigumo as an incarnation. So much of his power of existence as Naraku was tied to Onigumo, that he was unsure if he would be able to keep himself together without the lovesick fool to serve as the keystone. It would be the height of foolishness to eject his heart, and have his enemies pull some secret weapon out and destroy it before he managed to determine if it was still something he needed._

Naraku has to laugh as he watches the three fighters get pummeled into submission while the two miko were unable to approach due to Jūrōmaru's great strength, and their arrows equally as useless against his incarnations speed. His eyes catch the unspoken conversation between Inuyasha, and the two miko, even if he is unable to determine the nature of it. If the resignation on Kagome's face is anything to go by, he is about to find out anyways.

Inuyasha speaks to the two exterminators he has trusted at his back. "I'm going to do it. If this guy is anything like all of Naraku's other incarnations, Murasame's curse won't work, but none of us have been able to get a scratch on this guy." Sango grunts under the force of Jūrōmaru's blow and Kohaku mutters, "I haven't gone through all of this trouble to train you in sword play only for you to die here by your own hand. So, you better survive this, Inuyasha-kun." Sango cries out in pain, as one of Jūrōmaru's blows hits hard enough to break her thigh bone. Kohaku, with his multiple bruises and black eye, flinches under the sound of breaking bones, but forces himself to remain in position. Naraku stares with interest as Inuyasha turns his blade upon himself, and a dark wicked magic writes itself across his skin. His eyebrows arch in surprise as the boy's speed, strength and agility increases by at least an order of magnitude. _But not enough to match his incarnation, though perhaps enough to lure out Kagerōmaru…_

Using the space that Inuyasha has given them, the two miko hurry over to the two exterminators, with the barrier reinstated around them, they are all forced to resort to long distance attacks in attempt to help Inuyasha. Hiraikotsu Kusarigama and sacred arrows assault Jūrōmaru, who turns from Inuyasha to deal with them. Spotting the opening that Jūrōmaru has made of his back, Inuyasha lunges forward with Murasame, only to stare in surprise, as he is rebuffed by a tiny blade armed yōkai sharing the same blue eyes, lavender hair, and dark purple lips as the other.


	66. Soul Parasite

Chapter 65: Soul Parasite

Everyone was left gaping, or gagging when they realized that the tiny yōkai had been hiding _inside_ Jūrōmaru. Kagerōmaru goes to introduce himself, however, Inuyasha knew he was on a time limit. Already he could begin to feel just how much damage Murasame had done to him, and they still had Jūrōmaru to deal with. The little yōkai squawked in indignation when his witty self introduction was cut off by the blade swinging down at him. It would have been the end of him, however Kagerōmaru was nearly twice as fast as his host, and as such, Inuyasha may as well have been attacking thin air. Dekuyume begins drawing her magic inwards, and lacing it through her body. _She was only going to get one shot at this. She could not fail._

Jūrōmaru turns to face Inuyasha, just as the boy crumbles to his knees. Kagome cries out his name in denial as Jūrōmaru's hand pulls back. Palm open, fingers pointed to pierce Inuyasha's chest, the incarnations hand slices forward, and Naraku feels a thrill of anticipation ripple down his spine. _Finally. Let the pest die._ The barrier around the group shatters as Dekuyume uses her magic strengthened muscles to dash across the clearing and place herself between Inuyasha and his death. Inuyasha stares at the white kimono jacket in front of his face, the hand pierced through it, and the blood quickly soaking through the garment. It is the last thing he sees before he falls unconscious, a victim of his own design. Kagome screams, throwing herself forward, accidentally blocking Kagerōmaru, who had sought to cut the neck of the exterminator boy who tasted so deliciously of fear. He bounces off of the holy charged bow, disappearing underground to avoid the giant boomerang that the female wields.

Enraged, Kagome hoists her bow above her head, brings it down on Jūrōmaru's head, only to be halted by a delicate feminine hand. Kagome stares in surprise at her sister. "Anesan?" Dekuyume lets go of the bow and points to Inuyasha. Kagome nods hesitantly, kneeling behind her sister and beginning to heal Inuyasha. Though it is a thousand shades of agony to do so, Dekuyume draws in a breath, and slides forward on the berserkers arm where it remains impaled inside of her. She meets his wide eyed gaze and gently, she pulls Jūrōmaru into a hug. With the last breath in her lungs whispers, "Wake up and be at peace Jūrōmaru-kun, so your warring heart may sleep."

The cold rage seeps out of Jūrōmaru's form instantly, his berserker rage broken. Naraku's heart is in turmoil. Glee at the woman's death stands in stark opposition to the sheer fury inspired by her triumph over him. _It was over now, while they may have some problems with Kagerōmaru, the woman had released Jūrōmaru from his rage. The beast was broken in a way that Naraku had not intended. Kagerōmaru may have had all of the twin's brains, but Jūrōmaru had both of their emotional capacity, and thus was unable to stop feeling an emotion once he began. Only an intense upset could cause him to switch emotions, and now that the elder miko had sacrificed herself for Inuyasha, and shaken Jūrōmaru from his rage…_

The incarnation makes a strange rasping sound as he sinks fully to his knees, where he gently pulls his hand out of Dekuyume's chest and with trembling hands touches the side of her face. He looks at Kagerōmaru with tears in his eyes, where the blade armed yōkai had crawled out of the ground next to a bush. Catching sight of the signal given to him by another puppet of Naraku's, Kagerōmaru sighs, _he was going to have to kill Jūrōmaru too wasn't he? That was too bad, he was such a nice host too._

He gathers coils his tail beneath him and launches himself at Jūrōmaru. Of all those remaining he was the only one who had a chance to catch him, and he would not take a chance that slaughtering the pathetic weaklings around him would stir Jūrōmaru into rage again. Inches from a wide eyed Jūrōmaru's neck, he is snatched out of the air. He is left flailing uselessly as his shoulders do not allow him to bring his blades in close enough to his body to cut the hand holding him around his ribcage. He turns his head to glare at Jūrōmaru only to spot both of the fool's hands still holding the dead woman in his arms. Slowly, he brings his eyes back to the hand around him and follows it to it's source. Naraku startles in surprise in his castle, causing his connection to his puppets to flicker.

Dekuyume, freshly resurrected, tightens her hands around the vicious little parasite in her hand. Her eyes travel over to where Kagome, after stabilizing Inuyasha, had turned to give Jūrōmaru and her sister her attention. The stabilization had gone far more quickly than the first time, now that she knew what she was doing. _They had done it. Everyone had lived, bruises and cuts a plenty. Sango had a shattered thigh bone, and Inuyasha was in desperate need of some serious healing, but everyone had lived. And now she was going to save another of her children from her previous incarnations machinations... if that wasn't nightmare fuel for a Jerry Springer episode she didn't know what was._

After patting Jūrōmaru on the head with her other hand, she brings it around, "Imouto, I am going to have to ask you to help me, I'm a bit weak from auto-reviving." Kagome nods and comes to sit next to Dekuyume who is still being held by Jūrōmaru. He continues to stare at Dekuyume in wide eyed surprise as she instructs Kagome to put her hand over Dekuyume's stomach, where the gate for the soul is. Kagome complies, and feels a gentle tingle as Dekuyume borrows her magic. In the shadows the remaining puppets stare in wide eyed wonder. _The woman had been dead…_

Kagerōmaru hisses evilly and tries to cut at Dekuyume, but she has him gripped in just the right spot and he cannot hurt her, and she merely ignores his thrashing. She holds her other hand just out of his reach and curls her fingers inwards. His body jerks and his eyes roll back into his head. She lets go of his body with her other hand, and everyone is surprised to see it still hanging there. She curls her other hand in symmetry with her first and they see thousands of multicolored threads spread out from his body, many of which connect to Jūrōmaru.

Naraku can only stare at her, certain now that it is the elder miko that cast all of the spells upon the cart that they used to travel, as she expertly unravels the soul fragments Kagerōmaru had managed to steal from Jūrōmaru. As each piece is freed from Kagerōmaru, Jūrōmaru becomes more and more aware of the world around him. As the threads that bind him to Kagerōmaru lessen, Jūrōmaru finds himself feeling more and more emotions at the same time. The strongest is guilt, and awe as his rage seething frostily below the surface seems to clarify, gaining direction instead of aimlessly pointing in all directions.

Eventually, all pieces liberated, there is a brilliant flash of light as his soul resonates, all the pieces falling back into place. Naraku looks up in surprise as another one of his heart filled jars shatters. His lips twist in futile anger before he turns his attention back to his puppets. Held securely in her second son's arms, with her little sister behind her, supplying magic to her refreshed, but exhausted body, Dekuyume smiles like the sun at Kagerōmaru, who finds the smile terrifying "Good bye parasite." Before vaporizing the soul parasite that had been ejected along with the soul Naraku had intended to use for Jūrōmaru. _There was a reason that Kagerōmaru did not have a spider shaped scar on his back like all of Naraku's other children, and not just because he was the smallest most deformed one of them._

She nods at Kagome who goes back to healing Inuyasha more thoroughly now that all the threats had passed. Kohaku helps Sango hobble over to Kagome, who immediately protests, "Sango-chan! How long have you been standing on a broken leg! Sit. Sit." Dekuyume smiles at their antics, aware of the puppet she knows is still hiding in the shadows, even though Kagura, and the other puppets had retreated, and turns to Jūrōmaru. He slowly reaches out and gently touches the side of her face, giving her time to tell him no. She smiles before sighing. "Unfortunately there is almost nothing that I can do to help you speak, because of the parasite, you weren't even born with vocal chords, as far as your body is concerned, there is nothing to heal. It will take a while, but as soon as I have recovered, I'll begin working on a spell for you." He tugs on her sleeve staring at her with puppy eyes, and she grins ruffling his hair. "Yes, you can come with us. Family is precious, and children are sacred. You may look like an adult, but you're really only a few weeks old aren't you?" He gently places his trembling hand over the healed skin where she was impaled earlier, "Yes. I forgive you."

Sango, freshly healed of her most serious injury, turns and stares at Dekuyume. "Will we receive an explanation for this, or are you going to keep hiding behind the **Naraku may be watching** excuse." Dekuyume's eyebrow rises in surprise, "My apologies, I hadn't realized that it was bothering you so much, or that you failed to understand the implications of being the recipient of a kami curse." Naraku's hidden puppet leans forward in excitement. _This, this is what he had been searching for!_ Dekuyume sighs , "For those of you who were not previously aware… Just as Kagome-chan is the reincarnation of Midoriko the great miko who made the Shikon no Tama, I am the reincarnation of Magatsuhi, the yōkai she fought to do so. Because it took both of us to create the jewel, it will take both of us to unmake it. For my transgressions, my health was cursed by the kami, but because I am needed, no matter how I ail, or what injuries I suffer, I will not die until our quest is complete. For better or worse, I am immortal."

Dekuyume meets Inuyasha's eyes as he sits up weakly, having heard Dekuyume's explanation, but still very very weak, with all of his newly reconnected muscles screaming in agony. "In no way shape or form, does that mean that I choose to die lightly, the kami have a tendency of making my next infirmity much more unpleasant when I do." Inuyasha nods, and doesn't even protest, when Jinenji exits the cart to lift Inuyasha inside. Kohaku helps Sango, who is greeted enthusiastically by Kirara, and Kagome walks next to Jūrōmaru as he carries Dekuyume to the cart, setting her inside, only to pause and stare in dismay at his blood soaked hands. Using a bottle of water, Dekuyume and Kagome help him wash his hands off, before holding their hands out in welcome, pulling him into the cart.

The puppet continues to stare at the spot where Jūrōmaru had knelt with the woman before running out of magic and collapsing into a wooden doll wrapped in a single strand of Naraku's black hair. Across Japan, Naraku throws the sake bowl across the room in a frustrated rage. He had not been able to keep his emotion's stable, and the wobbly connection that he had with his last puppet had finally snapped as the cart laden with wounded had continued the rest of the way to the hot springs where they would no doubt set up camp for the night.

Naraku he trembles with the force of his rage. _It was bad enough that Inuyasha had wormed his way back into Kagome's good graces after his last parting with her. It was another matter entirely to find out that Kagome was once Kikyō who was once Midoriko, and that the woman who was her beloved sister was the reincarnation of her nemesis… and she too had a place in Kagome's heart, it seemed that every enemy that had killed her had earned a place in her life this time. All but him._ Onigumo writhes inside of their collective soul, his upset stirring the rest of the souls, leaving Naraku's mind a hurricane of emotion and sound.


	67. The Heart of the Matter is the Heart

Chapter 66: The Heart of the Matter is the Heart Itself

Naraku had come to a decision. It had taken months in the world outside of his collective soul. Months of sitting motionlessly, staring out at the garden that had long since fallen to winter and the poison in his magic. It _was a good thing that Kagura had been distracted with following around the dog lord, because while months had passed to the outside world, an epoch had passed inside his collective soul._ He rises gracefully to his feet, inky black hair floating behind him as he moves over to an elaborate mirror. It was embedded in the wall, an inherited vanity from the prince who had once called this his room, but it, like the princes face, was Naraku's now. His eyes are dark and red as he stares at his reflection, considering.

Onigumo stood tall and proud and so very angry underneath the chains the yōkai had wrapped around him all those years ago when he foolishly gave them his body. _The body that they had used to kill her. It doesn't matter that he had been able to turn the intended deathblow into something less. He had known the moment that he looked into Kikyō's eyes that she would die in her pursuit of vengeance for her wounded heart. And… he hated himself for it. Of all the things that he had wanted from that bewitchingly beautiful woman, with her gentle hands and quietly grieving kindness… he had not wanted to inspire darkness in her heart, but when he had seen her with that half-breed abomination… He supposed that was why it was called a crime of passion now wasn't it?_

 _As he watched the yōkai, deranged in their cackling, return the Shikon they had stolen to the shrine the miko had built to house it, all in order to lay the perfect trap for the half-breed, he had marveled at their ability to resist its sweet song of power. It had snatched his attention, and while the demons chortled in glee at the half-breeds eternal punishment, and the miko's death from blood loss, he had realized that he too had been acting strangely. He was a meticulous planner, and he had all but thrown that away a year ago when he saw her for the first time. The fire that had crippled him should not have happened, he_ _ **knew**_ _better. But she stirred him so greatly from the apathy that resulted from the whore house he was born in, then sold, and eventually committed his first mass murder in… he did not regret it, even though it had led to this. The emotion that swirled inside him after so much emptiness was the most intoxicating thing he had ever experienced, and like a fool, he had stumbled headlong into it. The deadliest poisons were sweet, luring you in deeper and deeper even when you realized what was happening._

Shaking himself free from the memory he glances around. With the disfavored, the weak, the stupid, and the useless, he stood on the lowest floor of the three tiers that made up this strange self perception. The second tier was for the favored, the ones who traded their will for favors to the spider who sat on the single throne like chair hovering over them all. _The spider was not a strong yōkai, but he was blessed with a singular gift; entrapment. The wretched little beast was the reason that they all had spider shaped scars branded into their backs. A physical testament to the power he stole from the unwilling, and manipulated out of the rest. The only balm in this whole mess was that the spiders loathing of him wasn't actually for any of the reasons that the spider claimed._ _ **The spider was afraid of him.**_ _And for good reason; Onigumo, the demon spider he was called, had_ _ **earned**_ _his name._

Like all of the other souls in the room Onigumo was looking up. The purple haze that served as a representation of their magic, was coiled and spinning like a hurricane. The eye of the hurricane also served as their ability to see out of the eyes of the body they shared. It was a tedious play on words, and Onigumo rather wished that a bit more imagination had been used. His lips twitch marginally, but he hides his amusement well. He watches as the spider tries over and over to force their body into the shape of Kagome's sister only to fail miserably at changing their face. As chaos descends once more upon their collective soul he can't help but wonder if the yōkai will ever realize that _Onigumo_ is the one who planted the seeds that grew into the desire for a spell to control their form better. A desire that sprouted because he was always a great deal subtler than they gave him credit for, and it was far, far too easy to disturb their careful balance when **He** was the keystone. It was even easier to twist the magic just enough so that as long as the spider sat upon the throne for their collective soul, _they would never take the prince's face off._

Onigumo smiles wickedly into the enraged eyes of the spider on the throne. _This was just one of many plots he had going. Some were new, and others had been set in motion the moment the first soul had joined with his. As a yōkai with the ability to control every aspect of their body, time would not kill them, and as cautious as they were, neither would an enemy. It was a given then, that they would encounter her soul again,_ _it had only been a matter of time._ _It worried him a bit, he had not expected it to be so soon, he had expected years and years of subtle manipulations until each and every soul inside this collective was just as in love with her as he was. But it seemed he had done enough; as this woman named Kagome, Kikyō had returned to the world once more, just as enchanting as she was before._

He smiles wickedly, causing the spider to clack its fangs together in rage. _It had been so gratifying to see the yōkai all respond to Kagome with yearning when they saw her in that cave, and so delightfully nice of them to blame the entirety of their visceral response on him._

He raises an eyebrow in challenge and the spider turns away.

 _Spider, spider, weave your web. Soon, my tide will rise, and yours ebb. Ku. Ku. Ku._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Unsurprisingly to Dekuyume, Jūrōmaru rather quickly formed a strong bond with Jinenji. Repulsed by his actions during his berserker rage, and knowing that he was now complete, but still afraid of falling into the mad red haze again… he did not want to fight, at all. A fact which upset Inuyasha, who had challenged Jūrōmaru to a rematch, to no end, but Dekuyume stood by her son's decision, and that was that.

Her only words of caution had been spoken in a quiet moment alone, "Go in peace, Jūrōmaru-kun, but never forget; sometimes, what we become when we abstain from violence is worse than what we become when we revel in it." A maternal hug, and then, "Think carefully now, while your resolve is still strong, and look inside your heart. Is there _any_ situation you can think of, no matter how improbable, where the danger of a berserker rage is less hazardous to your heart than the risk of doing nothing?"

The months since then had been good for them, full of training, exterminator missions, and kept promises. There was no sign of Naraku, or the missing fragment, and the only odd thing that had happened was that Kagome had gotten lost in the forest when she came back from the test she had taken in the future, and was greeted by a blizzard. She had turned to go back to the future to wait out the storm, when Ambrosia had beckoned her over to his shrine and the halo of spring he kept around it.

Charmed by the little kami Kagome had spent the afternoon with him, falling asleep to his quiet wordless singing. The group panicked when she didn't show up when the blizzard passed, and Kānēshon said that Kagome had gone back to the feudal era the day before. They ran around looking for her for hours, only to catch sight of Kagome disappearing down the well and a black haired woman with red eyes Inuyasha mistook for Kagura following after her.

Awoken by the hubbub, Kagome had wandered over from Ambrosia's shrine, and asked what was going on. No one had any idea, and the matter was quickly dropped. If Shippō and Sōten had considered mentioning that the two were kami, Dekuyume's gentle hands on the tops of their heads was enough to guarantee their silence. _And no one would know the thin skull and brains that Kagome no kami had crushed beneath her feet belonged to a yōkai that had managed to overcome the Well of Time's security features and was in the process of reforming… At least not for about 500 years or so…._

Dekuyume, still reveling in her newfound ease of motion stood, shaking off the idleness of the last few months, offering a prayer of thanks to Kagome-no-kami, before bowing to the ward stone in the middle of the exterminator village, grateful for all of her children that she had been able to save from her past self. _Now if only she could do something for Kagura-chan…_ Dekuyume sighs, holding a hand in front of her face, _it did not appear as if she was going to be able to work on Jūrōmaru-kun's speech spell any time soon._ She measures the loss of her field of vision, comparing it to the day before.

She would be completely blind in another day or two if the loss continued at the same rate. _It was necessary, this aggravating illness… Almost, just almost, she would have preferred the horrible disfigurement of leprosy._ But that was understandable. Dekuyume was a thinker, and the tumor growing in her brain, pressing on her greatest asset was going to **cripple** her. It wouldn't just leave her blind, it would slowly build into an endless migraine headache as her body failed to obey her will, and… her thought process was compromised.

The last one was what she was most afraid of, but also the most vital. Naraku had played around with his DNA enough to have given himself, and cured, cancer of various sorts. _Her symptoms would be obvious, and it would_ _ **grate**_ _to show them openly when she had worked so hard to hide them all before. And so, he would know, and when it came to the end… he would know that her thought process was compromised, and he would not see the taunt for what it was. But, as quickly as that time was approaching… there were many more things to do until then._

She had already informed her traveling companions. There was just no way around it with her rapidly fading vision, and the looming threat of seizures. Kagome, thankfully, had waited until they were safe and secure in the future to ask about her sister's unusual behavior. Dekuyume had told her the truth, that this would be the last illness she would have before they faced Naraku, and that she _wanted_ him to know exactly what it was she had. Her imouto had more questions about that, but at Dekuyume's quiet request for her to let things be, she did. And as they sat together quietly enjoying the dawn, Dekuyume found herself so very grateful for Kagome's faith in her, and a little bit guilty.

Her days quickly filled with her children, those stolen from Naraku, and those she adopted. It was slow going, but she refused to stop teaching them, even if that meant that she was restricted to helping her various students verbally, or using her magic to monitor them. In a fit of irony, it was this action that finally allowed Jinenji to succeed in locating his chi. Sango had begun teaching him to utilize it almost immediately stating, "It's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Already, Dekuyume was feeling the strain of sitting helpless with the children in the cart while the others fought, the various side missions they did for the exterminators to keep their skills sharp while they waited for news on either Naraku or the missing jewel fragment. Perhaps the most trying thing was being unable to craft any new magic, even if she was sensitive enough to feel the existing spells on the cart and her companions. It just wasn't safe, or worth the risk to craft.

In a moment of insensitive rudeness that had become more and more infrequent as Inuyasha got used to being part of a pack. He asked why she didn't just off herself and hope for a different kind of sick, only realizing his error when Kagome gasped, scandalized. He defended himself, "Hey! It ain't like it would be permanent or anything!" Dekuyume's laconic response: "There are worse things than being blind Inuyasha-kun, and denying the Kami their torment only incites them further. I prefer to save that… act, for a last resort, when I absolutely can't stand it anymore, and find myself in need of the last mercy. Because quest or no quest, it may very well be the last mercy they grant me."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It had taken him a while to get there from the sword smith's volcano, due to the slowness and fragility of some of his pack, but Sesshōmaru had traveled to Bokusen'on, a tree yōkai responsible for the construction of the heavily enchanted sheaths that held Tenseiga and Tessaiga. He had expected it to take even longer to persuade the yōkai to give him one for his new blade. It had not. Sesshōmaru began to have suspicions when, taking a look at the blade that smith had made from Sesshōmaru's fang and Rin's tooth, the tree had laughed and given him a sheath without even being asked. The suspicions only grew when the tree had told him, without riddles, to take his sword and his pack to the valley his father had fought and sealed the dragon Ryukotsusei, to test his new blade.

 _This Sesshōmaru is not one to follow the orders of others._ But when the sword had done nothing that a normal sword would not, he had found himself leading his pack to Ryukotsusei. As he stood over the bloody remains of the dragon, pride swollen with the joy of finally stepping out of his father's shadow and doing something that he could not, he cleaned his sword properly. Not with a careless slash through the air to throw off the blood before sheathing the blade, but with both his hands, and the sleeve that had been torn from his kimono.

The sword had seemed pathetic at first, when it finally gave off its first energy attack. He almost hadn't noticed it happen. A tiny flash of pink as he stood in the path of the dragons attack unflinchingly, because to move would leave his pack to die. As a result Ryukotsusei drew first blood. The second time, there were two flashes of light, the third time, there were four. It was the hardest battle of his life, his movements were restricted by his pack, and it did not take long for the dragon to recover his strength even after being sealed for so long. When the number of tiny pink flashes reached eight, he finally managed to get a good look at them before they faded from sight, and without compromising his attention on the dragon. _It was oddly fitting that the swords magic conjured sakura petals. Rin loved flowers, and though he would never admit it, so did he. His favorite kimono was decorated with them after all._

The battle continued, and as the number of blossoms grew, his muscles began to ache, and Ryukotsusei realized that Sesshōmaru had not acknowledged a single word he had said, flying into a maddened rage, Sesshōmaru had felt as if…

He felt as if he was not the Lord of the West, but instead Sesshōmaru, the Inu no Taisho's son. His eyes turned red with rage, knowing that while the dragon had not dealt him a lethal blow, his father had come out of this fight with only a single injury, one he would have easily recovered from had he not rushed to the human, and the half-breed bastard son she had birthed him. His father's shadow loomed over him, and even though Sesshōmaru had grown much since then, even if he released himself from this human form, and stood on four legs instead of two… he would still be small enough to stand inside his father's ribcage. It made him feel tiny, _weak_.

But as he was given a chance to glance back at the tiny beings behind him, he had realized that he wasn't just that boy anymore, he was a man with a pack of his own now. Jaken, the often times annoying, but still very brave fool who had followed him in spite of all of the threats against his life, threats that Sesshōmaru had made… and never followed through with. Rin, the closest thing he would probably ever have to a pup given his general distaste for the pettiness of the noble female yōkai that sought his attentions. A-Un, who had been the only one who dared to comfort him in the aftermath of his father's death... Just as his father had towered over him, he towered over them. But he was not his father, in this, for them, _he would not fail as his father did. He would not win this fight only to fall in the aftermath leaving them alone and unprotected._

He slashed the blade through the air then, summoning hundreds of sakura petals which cut at the dragons thick hide, small and brief in their existence, and infinitely sharp. He was Sesshōmaru. He was the wind, he was the sky, he was dog, he was acid and poison. He was going to step out of his father's shadow. He was going to defeat this dragon. He was going to protect his pack.

And now, standing atop the corpse of a dragon in a hurricane of sakura petals Sesshōmaru felt as if he stood next to his father for a moment, before stepping past him. Filled with an emotion that tastes like victory, solace, serenity and serendipity all rolled into one life altering potion, he loses control of his form. Shifting into his truest shape faster than he has ever done before, his missing arm re-growing instantly as he plants all four paws on the corpse and howls out the contents of his heart into the sky.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

From high up in the sky upon her feather boat Kagura stares at Sesshōmaru's triumph in wonder. One hand is clenched tightly around her fan, the other against her chest where her heart would be beating fast had it not been stolen from her.

 _It would be him. He would be hers. He must, because she would accept no other…_

 _But she would wait to approach him, her pride would never accept approaching him while she was incomplete, not after he had found the strength to save himself from his own form of incompletion._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome's heart was trembling, fear, anticipation, hope… love. _Had she not learned that the end of their quest would be coming up soon, she probably wouldn't have been brave enough to do this._ Her heart climbs into her throat, and butterflies stir restlessly in her stomach as she approaches where Inuyasha is sitting, resting after his sword training with Kohaku. He looks up at her, steel grey eyes focusing on her with all of the intensity that has slowly been building up, and the strongest reason she has to suspect that she is not the only one feeling this way.

Her hands shake as she holds out a small heart shaped box filled with chocolates she had made with her mother's handed down recipe. Knowing that he won't understand without her explaining, with trembling lips, she tells him. "In the future, women have equal rights as men and are free to go where their heart leads them. There is a special day of the year, where they give out chocolates to the people closest to them, some are given out of obligation, but."

She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for courage, and Inuyasha can only stare in surprise as her hands begin to shake more intensely. Gently, his hands reach out to steady hers, and the rest of her confession comes tumbling out. "Others, others are given out because the girl wishes that she had a deeper bond with the one she gives them too. Chocolates like these ones that I made for you."

Inuyasha's heart flutters in his chest. He knows he misses a lot when it comes to feelings. The way he survived after the death of his mother saw to that, but he couldn't misunderstand this. Not when it was being spelled out so clearly for him, not when the girl who had faced down so many yōkai without flinching, who had killed a human shaped yōkai for the first time to save his life… not when the girl with an impossible quest was looking at him as if the next words out of his mouth could end her life.

He is spared from speaking for the moment as Kagome continues, glad she had practiced this speech over and over as she made the chocolates, even if everything was coming out in the wrong order. Her hands tremble in his, "I will understand, if you think that it's too soon for you to fall in love again after Kikyō-san's death. To the rest of the world it happened 50 years ago, but to you it hasn't even been a year. There is another tradition in the future, where the recipient of the chocolates is given a month before they are expected to respond. I am falling in love with you, and I'm already in deep enough to wait for you, so I'm not asking for a response right away, but you have to understand. I love myself too, so I won't wait forever for someone who doesn't even want to love me back."

With that her courage falters, and she flees, leaving behind a stunned boy and a box of chocolates. He stares at the box in his hands for what seems like hours. Slowly he sinks down against the rock he had been resting on. As he opens the box and takes his first chocolate he wonders if the fact that he hasn't thought of Kikyō since Sesshōmaru explained Naraku's treachery means that he never loved her at all, or if it means that what he fell in love with was the _idea_ of her.

He thinks of Kagome as he finishes the last of the three palm sized chocolates, and how differently things would have turned out had it been her instead of Kikyō that day he was sealed to the sacred tree. He knows what his decision is, and he knows that he will not be changing his mind. Rising to his feet he heads off to find Dekuyume, intent on doing things right.

He takes the empty box with him, and on the opposite side of the rock he was leaning against, bellflowers sway in the wind as the second lien on the souls inside the Shikon no tama is satisfied, leaving only one remaining.


	68. The Moth and the Flame

Chapter 67: The Moth, and the Flame

Dekuyume runs her fingers through Shippō's hair while he sleeps curled up in a little ball in her lap. She can smell the crispness in the air that hints of rain and spring just around the corner. The scent of salt was also increasing as they got closer to the coast. They were on their way to a little village being hounded by bat Dai-yōkai after a decade of peace had passed between them. The exterminators had received two requests for aid, one was from a woman who begged them to save her daughter from the yōkai, and one from the village headman asking for the complete extermination of the pests. Kei had asked that they withhold judgment, and make no promises until they fully understood the situation.

Dekuyume smiles softly as the little kitsune makes a soft grumble noise in his sleep before waking up. She ruffles his hair, causing the boy to huff before wobbling over to the blankets his siblings were sleeping in, on and around. He wiggles into the pile, finds a warm spot and returns to his slumber. Dekuyume leans against the side of the cart, allowing one leg to dangle towards the ground out of the back opening.

The night wind blew through the cart gently, stirring her hair where it hung loosely around her. She could not see the bandits that were following their cart, with wide eyes to the hanyō driving it, and herself enjoying the quiet of the night at its back. They would pull back soon, and follow from a safer distance. With all of the assistance that their group had given the exterminators, they were well known now; for Kagome's healing ability, the exterminators skill, her sorcery and… She shakes her head in exasperation, _there was always someone after Inuyasha-kun's sword._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Gatenmaru let a wicked smile pass over his ruby red lips when one of his men brought him the good news. Though, the hunger in his belly quickly announced itself to him once more, prompting him to send the man out of his tent. Turning to the woman cowering on his bed, he approached her pulling her roughly towards him before plunging his tongue out burying it in her neck, and sucking out her life-force and blood. The body fell from his bed with a wooden thump, with no life, there was no need to treat it gently. He scratched his back idly before leaning back on his bed.

He was a Dai-yōkai of the moth variety. He was also alone. His own brother had banished him, not because of any harm Gatenmaru had done to his brethren, but because of his diet. Over a century ago when the moths had discovered that they could use their poison cocoons to trap human souls inside their heart if they were full of fear and despair, and that they could then devour that heart, stealing the soul inside… He had refused. No matter what Garamaru had said, it was not _pitty_ or anything so disgusting as _compassion_ for the humans that made him do this. It was practicality, they were Dai-yōkai, incarnations of nature, no matter what the short term gains that came from eating human souls was, _they were human_ , and humans were not a part of nature. Gatenmaru was not willing to risk damaging his very being, and for his wisdom, he was banished.

Rising and crushing the woman's corpse into dust beneath his booted foot, he puts his jacket on. _It was merely coincidence and more practicality that led him to becoming the leader of a bunch of human bandits. They did most of the leg work in pacifying the humans they pillaged, set aside his meals for him, and all he really had to do was lead them while occasionally dealing with the one or two skilled warriors that they happened upon._ He leaves his tent and summons some of his men, informing them to drink their sake lightly as they would be working in the morning.

Rubbing at the Shikon fragment embedded in his thorax Gatenmaru ignores the tiny wriggle of fear in his heart at the thought of facing miko and exterminators, of being exposed to his men for what he is… _He was_ _ **not**_ _fond of them! It would mean nothing to him if they all shrieked in terror and fled from him once they discovered the truth of his nature! He wouldn't need them at all if he had Murasame! And so Murasame he would get!_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Perhaps it was because Kagome's ability to sense the Shikon no Tama was so strong this time around. Perhaps it was because of the practice they had gotten working with and for professional exterminators. Perhaps it was because Dekuyume was blind and helpless with the children in the cart. Perhaps it was just because they had realized at this point that rushing headlong into fights didn't get them anything but hurt, and perhaps it was just because this time around everyone had something to live for after all was said and done. In the end it didn't really matter.

Kagome awoke when she sensed the Shikon, and the exterminators that had been shadowing them reported news of the bandits, their camp, the oddly tall beautiful man who led them, and his announcement to the camp that they would be stealing an enchanted sword in the morning. And so, instead of barging into the bandit camp in the dead of night, or whatever nonsense the group might have gotten themselves into, they made a plan. Dekuyume laughed quietly to herself from her position surrounded by her brilliant, devious children and their wicked little plan, as they settled in for the night.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Inuyasha and Kohaku awoke and began their sword training just as they always did. The bandits grumbled to themselves from their positions hidden in the trees around the clearing the cart had stopped in, but they knew that tired men were easily slain. The two in the clearing practicing didn't seem to be all that good either, neither one of them had managed to hit the other, and it only took half an hour for them to lean against their swords in exhaustion. Gatenmaru waived his hand in dismissal, signaling his men to attack. _Murasame would be a great blade in his hands if this pathetic fool had managed so much with so little stamina or skill._

The two boys in the clearing look up as the bandits shout in their charge. The two fastest bandits that had hidden in the bushes behind each of their targets make it to the boys before they can even pull their swords out of the ground. The bandits swords swing through the air ready to cleave the fools heads off, only to be halted by each other. They hear two loud pops as Shippō and Kōryū lose their transformations, drop down to the ground and scamper away under Sōten's electrical and Kanna's implosion orb cover fire. The two bandits that attacked their brothers would not be getting back up again.

Realizing that they had fallen for a trap, the other bandits turn to run while Gatenmaru seethes with rage. Kohaku falls out of the trees, knocking the second in command out, before he spins and blocks Gatenmaru's axe while the other exterminators make short work of the bandits. They vanish back into the trees the moment they are done with their easy task, no mere bandit was enough to compare to their normal prey. Kirara transforms and bites Gatenmaru's leg when it appears as if the man is about to overpower Kohaku, and as the two of them leap to safety, the trap is sprung.

An overpoweringly pure sacred arrow, Hiraikotsu, and wickedly sharp Murasame converge on the moth Dai-yōkai's position, and he is left with only one choice. Die, or transform. Throwing himself into the sky, he takes his true form. "How dare you! How dare you worthless, pathetic little beings! Give me my sword damnit!" He is forced to fly around the clearing in circles, dodging the projectiles coming at him out of the trees, and from the pests in the middle of the clearing. _He should flee, he knows this, but without his bandits it will be too difficult to get another meal without personal risks just as great as this one._

He prevents the exterminators in the trees from attacking him further by smearing the tops of the trees in his poison cocoon material. Any attempts to do the same to those moving around in the clearing below him are halted by either the miko's holy arrows, or that blasted boomerang. Desperate to get the miko to stop attacking him, he pours out as much poison powder as he dares, only to giggle internally with glee when the Shikon fragment in his possession heals the damage the attack does to his wings almost instantly. _It is even more gratifying to see the humans scrambling to get all of their exposed skin covered so that the poison does not eat through to their bones. It would have been nice if one or two of them had actually succumbed before the exterminators in the trees had shouted their warnings, but he was enjoying the thrill of battling in his true form after so long pretending to be human._

"I have a fragment of the Shikon no Tama you fools! You hold no power above me! And I, I am going to enjoy your moans of pain as my infinite rain of poison powder buries you all like snow. By the time it's magic fades, only your bones and my shiny new sword will be left behind!" Inuyasha, Kagome and Sango make it back into the cart and they all stare in wonder as Dekuyume merely kneels at the center of the spell matrix sipping the tea she had just finished preparing. The children scamper to the ends of the cart to laugh at the moth yōkai's attack as it simply disintegrates into nothing upon contact with the cart.

In the forest, the exterminators pull back further, leaving the bandits on the ground where they lie. Frustrated, Gatenmaru swings his furry hands at the cart and dies in an dust explosion courtesy of Shippō's retaliatory fox fire. The shockwave is dampened by the cart, only causing Dekuyume's tea to slosh in her cup. Shippō sits up wide eyed, looking at his siblings, "Whoa." The fireball passes up and overhead, leaving only steaming chunks of moth yōkai to fall from the sky. The group exits the cart quickly to cries for help from the exterminators who had gotten caught in the blast. Dekuyume shouts to them as she too leaves the cart, "Help them! I will make sure that we don't lose the Shikon this time!" She gets vague nods of acceptance though she cannot see them, and with a long thin stick to prevent herself from walking into things, or falling into holes, she follows the hotter/colder sensation of the Shikon.

It takes her an hour to do something that should have only taken twenty minutes, but she slowly stumbles into the clearing containing the Shikon fragment, knowing full well what awaits her. Naraku watches the woman he loathes approaches him, oblivious in her current malady. He closes his hands around the fragment that the moth had found before sliding it into his kimono and pulling out the one that has been in his possession since the start.

It is pitch black with corruption, not even glowing, barely even shining in the light. He pulls open her kimono jacket and shoves the jewel and his fist into Dekuyume's chest cavity as she stumbles into him. He leaves the corrupt jewel behind, holding her almost tenderly. He removes his hand slowly, drawing out her suffering as he repairs the damage from his attack. _Oh how he would have liked for the life to seep out of her body from a wound he placed on her body, but the illness she had was too good to pass up. It would prevent her from working her sorcery, weaken her body, and maim her mind, rendering her a far less troublesome thorn in his side._ His fingertips caress her unbroken skin, leaking out his poison purple magic causing Dekuyume to flinch in pain.

He pulls her closer briefly, so that he can whisper his command and her demise into her ear, "Kill them all, but leave Kagome for last…" When Dekuyume's eyes widen in horror, and the wicked intent of the jewel attempts to steal her will, he laughs soft and dark into her ear, "Don't worry, no matter how she looks at you with the blood of your friends and children on your hands… no matter how she begs you to stop, begs you not to hurt her… you won't _actually_ kill her… after all, there's no point in killing her, if she clings to me so sweetly in gratitude for saving her from her jewel maddened sister, now is there?"

He drops her like the filth that she is, backing away into the shade of the trees, leaving her there writhing in agony on the ground as the corrupted jewel fragment sinks it's insidious fingers into her mind. His carmine eyes glint in wicked enjoyment from the small spacial partition he had set up so that he would have the pleasure of watching this in person.

Jinenji pulls up with the cart, quickly hopping out, "Higurashi-sama! Are you alright?" Gently, he lifts the thrashing woman and places her in the cart. Naraku laughs quietly to himself as he sees all of the injured through the opening in the cart. He takes a moment to enjoy the sight of Kagome's focused face as she works on healing them. He watches as she flinches, unnoticed by the children or the horse hanyō, and desperately avoids turning around to look at her elder sister. He pulls his baboon pelt tighter around him with a smirk, _and why would she move to check on her sister? The woman would survive whatever she was afflicted with, her little friends were another matter entirely._ The children all cluster around Dekuyume, hugging her close, and her arms tighten around them reflexively, pulling them all closer as she pants in pain.

He leans forward, watching as the little brats chatter away at the accursed woman, and the woman's arms tighten around them. _How was she going to do it? Would she kill them in a blast of holy magic? Or would she simply keep tightening her arms around them until they suffocated?_ His eyes drift over to Kagome, unable to keep his attention off of her for long. _She would be exhausted soon, that was good. That meant that she would have little energy to fight off her sister, and even less to burn him with when he saved her from the wicked,_ _wicked_ _woman who had deceived her so. Ku. Ku. Ku. Ku._

His eyes snap back to the woman he had forced the corrupted Shikon fragment into. She had gone still, her breath steady and even. _Her fight against the Shikon had lasted longer than he had expected, but, he had poured so much of his magic into the corruption spell latticed around it's jewel fragment power source. There was no winning for her._

 ** _He would claim Kagome, and no one would stop him this time!_**

His eyes widen with interest as a wicked smile spreads across the cursed miko's face, barely hidden by the heads of all of the children clutched around her, limp in her arms. She rises slowly, freeing herself from their corpses, before reaching out and wrapping them all up in a blanket in a parody of sleep. Her eyes are hidden behind her long dark hair, half loose from her earlier thrashing. She shuffles close to Kagome, before kneeling down next to her sister, placing her hands on the young exterminator boy that the young priestess had been struggling to find the energy to heal. The boy too goes still as Kagome's eyes come up to smile at her sister in gratitude. Naraku frowns, watching the way Kagome's eyes move over the woman who had dared to crawl inside her heart when it should have been he, Naraku, to do so. Unerringly Kagome's eyes focus on the spot that he had left the Shikon fragment. _What sorcery was this? Could she… could she_ _see_ _the jewel?!_

Hesitantly, Kagome calls out, "Anesan?" Naraku trembles with anticipation as slowly, slowly the cursed woman's head rises. He inhales sharply as her head comes up, and against all logic, her head turns slightly allowing her bloody red eyes meet his through the opening in the back of the cart. Her smile is wicked as she whispers to him. "You lose Naraku." And then, as if to add insult to injury, she smiles gently at Kagome, "It's fine, we'll deal with it in the morning. I have to meditate, will you sleep with the children tonight?"

Kagome's smile is so bright as she grins at her sister, and he can _see_ her joy as she moves over to the sleeping children, crawling in with them. _And how could he not? Even as exhausted as she was, that beautiful woman glowed with the force of her joy._ His hand clenches tightly, fisting his white pelt, and eyes narrowed in crushed hope and bitter rage. The woman he had thought conquered stares down at him from her place in the cart as it begins its journey, leaving him behind.


	69. Blood and Stone

Chapter 68: Blood and Stone

As they move out of Naraku's sight Dekuyume sighs, settling into a meditative pose. _Remembering…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

She couldn't sleep. The same couldn't be said of her two younger siblings though. Dekuyume stares out her bedroom window from the chair that she had spent so much time occupying as a child. _Hiei-kun had one fragment of the Shikon, Naraku had another, and the third was gone with the birds of paradise._ Dekuyume grimaces, _She was not looking forward to dealing with the wolf prince, and his affect on Kagome-chan. Their meeting this time would be far different than their first, and she wondered just what it was about their first encounter that made the wolfs tendency to eat humans something that Kagome-chan was ok with… Perhaps it was only because the humans were a vague idea and not a personal connection? I wonder how Kagome-chan would have responded to the wolf's affections if she had met Rin-chan first and then discovered that she had died once because of him?_

Her printer beeps and Dekuyume sighs as she stands from her seat at her bedroom window to retrieve the two printouts. Her eyes are sharp and red as she takes in every line of the command seal she had printed out. _There was no room for errors in this… It was far too important…_ The seal was errorless, and carefully, she deleted all traces of its existence off of her computer and printer.

She picks up the seal, making one last check… _this would be permanent. No less permanent than what Naraku had planned though. The man was entirely to vindictive to refrain from using a corrupted fragment of the Shikon to control another person. And as galling as it was, not even Kagome-chan could withstand a whole 1/3 of the jewel, the poor girl barely had the strength to resist the few shards Tsubaki-chan had used in the previous timeline._

 _And as for herself… for all that she knew how much it would cost her to fail… her resistance to the darkness in her heart was untested, and in this there was no room for anything but certainties..._ Her hands gently caress the control seal before setting it down to shuck off her nightshirt.

In the moonlight she chants quietly and slowly, the command seal rises from the ground, dissolves into light and crashes into her chest like a shooting star. Wordlessly, she makes a wish, enforcing her will upon her body forever more. Her hand rests over her heart for a moment, her eyes moving to stare at the moon shining down on her through her window. She pulls her shirt back on and tucks the second command seal into the red leather journal on her nightstand. _She would deal with that mess later, for now she had to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day, and these bruises made it so hard to sleep._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _(I command that this soul never again do harm to_ _her_ _or those in our protection unless the harm would prevent a greater one from befalling them.)_ The command resonates strongly against the tendrils of the corruption spell wrapped around the black Shikon fragment in her chest. In the tri-planar battlefield of her body, mind, and soul, the two forces remain stalwart in their opposition. However, from its theoretical high ground of the mind/will, between her body and her soul, the command seal was unshakable in its power. Not even she could influence the command seal, even though Dekuyume's deep meditation places her awareness in the same space. Only an afterlife representative or a kami invading her body could remove it from her now. Her mind's eye passes over the quiescent red leather journal and its command seal hovering in the same space, _waiting to awaken._

Shaking herself free of the space between her body and her soul, she follows the tendrils of the corruption spell Naraku had wrapped around the Shikon fragment. _She had easily managed to lay claim to the magic that Naraku had initially used to jumpstart the spell, it was hers too after all. Now all that remained was the parts that were powered by the Shikon._ She floats around her perception of the Shikon fragment, and its spell, searching for the lynchpin. She finds it in a matter of moments, and after checking to make sure that there were no nasty surprises waiting for her, she pulls it. She smiles beatifically as the spell harmlessly unravels in a beautiful red spider lily starburst. It's a beautiful sight to behold against the pitch black backdrop of the Shikon fragment. _Magic was always so beautiful, even something as insidious as this…_

Her eyes open slowly as she comes out of her meditation. Though she cannot see the sun rise, she feels its soft rays of light on her skin, and she is filled with warmth. She pointedly ignores the disorientingly powerful headache that has nothing to do with her recent ordeal, and everything to do with curses and more importantly, _fate._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

 _It's strange and disorienting, having the jewel fragment embedded in her chest._ It takes until midday for Dekuyume to find the strength to explain what Naraku attempted to do without accidentally losing a fragment of her soul to the jewel. The others have questions, but she has no strength to answer them beyond informing them that she would need the jewel removed _soon._

 _She can feel each time the jewel turns its attention towards her. Its glassy fingers are like ice on her heart when it leans in to peer inside searching for weaknesses to exploit. Worse still is its sweetly whispered words of power, but Dekuyume knows what that power costs, and so she resists. It is difficult, more difficult than she had expected it to be, and she only had to endure it for a single day._

Instead of traveling through the night they stop in the evening to set up a small camp in the mountains that overlook the seaside village with its bat yōkai problem. Camp is set up, and a space cleared for the task they are going to undergo _. It is a relief that Kagome can see the jewel through her skin even though her imouto can't bring herself to make the cut. Sango's hands are steady with the fire sanitized blade as she makes the cut needed to remove the jewel, and Kagome's glove covered hands are quick to snatch the offending object from her chest. They are even quicker to heal the damage._ The euphoria from the jewel's removal is enough to overpower her headache sending her to sleep.

She wakes to the gentle rocking of the cart as they enter the village and she is astonished to discover that she had slept for a full 24 hours. The children cuddle around her with shouts of joy when they see her sitting up, and Dekuyume simply smiles and reassures them all of her relatively good health. Before exiting the cart with Inuyasha and the exterminator siblings, Kagome passes her a silk bag with the Shikon fragment inside it. With a yawn Dekuyume merely thanks her before sliding it into her kimono jacket where it hangs from a nail in the walls of the cart. Under the watchful eyes of Jinenji and Jūrōmaru, she eats the nutritious stew that had been prepared for her, before curling up with the children and going back to sleep.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Shizu was a strong woman. Strong enough to live without her husband, strong enough to live with only her small daughter outside the village that scorned her, strong enough to look the old bat yōkai in the eyes, but… she was not strong enough to watch her daughter come home with cuts and bruises from the villagers, she was not strong enough to prevent the bat yōkai from taking her daughter, and she was not strong enough to let them keep her when she could hear her daughters tears every time she went for a walk along the shore near the bats sea-cave.

So she asked for aid from the exterminators, and when they arrived, she held her head up high as she made her admission. "I am human, but my husband was Tsukuomaru, the heir to the bat yōkai clan." When they merely nodded and asked her to explain the situation, she remained suspicious until with a mischievous smile, the miko dressed as an exterminator led her to their cart and allowed her to peek inside. She still couldn't wrap her mind around what she saw, but she believed it, and finally for the first time since her husband's death, she let out a sigh of relief.

She told them of the ruthless, lying old bat, her daughters grandfather and current clan leader Taigokumaru. She told them of her husband, and his ability to use the power in a blood coral crystal to generate impenetrable barriers. Of Shiori's inheritance of that skill, and her husband's subsequent death, a death she believes came at the hands of his own father. She told them that the bats drank the blood of humans and animals, and that while there had been peace once she wed Tsukuomaru, that peace had ended with him. She told them of the cowardly villagers that would rather sacrifice her daughter to the bat yōkai for promises they had no reason to keep, and how she had been banished from the village when the raids started. And then, she asked for their help, and they accepted.

While Sango and Kohaku worked with the group of exterminators that had been shadowing them, Kagome and Inuyasha remained behind to protect the ungrateful village. When Dekuyume awoke again and moved to the end of the cart to watch the children play Shizu joined her and spoke quietly under the watchful eyes of Jūrōmaru who stood ready and waiting to use his speed and his strength to scoop them all up and bundle them into the cart at the first sign of trouble. So of course, when a giant bat surrounded by a red barrier falls out of the sky, landing with a thud jarring Shiori and the blood coral crystal in his hand, the playing children don't even have time to look up before Jūrōmaru has them safe inside the cart. He huffs in annoyance when he looks up from making sure that he hadn't accidentally hurt any of them in his haste and finds that Dekuyume and Shizu had moved away from the cart to confront the bat. Jinenji merely pats the boy on the shoulder in commiseration.

The old man brags incessantly about his cruelties, and the fact that if Shiori does not want to lose her mother, the girl will do as she is told while the tribe collects their dinner from the village. Too tired to deal with any of it, Dekuyume simply walks forward until she meets the barrier. Under the outraged eyes of Taigokumaru she simply lifts a hand and places it on the barrier. The bats are stunned speechless when the barrier flickers out of existence immediately after. The tribe leader falls within moments due to a cut on his ankle courtesy of a pissed off Inuyasha. Sango and Kirara catch Shiori and the crystal as they fall, coming to land before Shizu. The mother and daughter have a teary reunion while the bat yōkai overhead break apart, scattering with shouts of fear and terror. Kagome giggles and when everyone turns to look at her she grins, "This is the first time that a crowd of yōkai have been more scared of everyone but me."

Dekuyume holds out her hand and suddenly Jūrōmaru is there to guide her back to the cart. She stumbles once on the way there, offering her son a tight smile she has to ask him to carry her the rest of the way. _She was not tired… her legs just weren't receiving all the signals from her brain… wasn't that terrifying._ They remain there for the night, Dekuyume propped up in the back of the cart, leg dangling off the lip as her children lure Shiori into a game of tag. The expression on Shizu's face is fierce, and Dekuyume already knows what the woman's decision is going to be.

The cart is prepared for a return trip to the exterminator village in the morning, and blind or not, Dekuyume can feel her companions eyes on her, staring at her. She tugs on Jūrōmaru's sleeve, and he complies by kneeling down and letting Dekuyume reach out to ruffle Shiori's hair. The children had taken to playing that morning while everyone awoke and made sure that they were all ready for the return trip to the exterminator village. But everyone was ready now and with a grin the bat hanyō ran over to her mother before the two turn and go into their hut. Jūrōmaru rises and carries her into the cart settling her on some blankets and Dekuyume smiles as she feels the waves of surprise in Kagome's magic, _just what do they think about me and children?_ She hides a laugh with the sleeves of her kimono jacket when Shizu and Shiori exit their hut with two small bundles. Jūrōmaru helps Shiori into the cart before holding his hand out for Shizu. She stares at him in surprise when she realizes his strength and quickly gets herself and Shiori settled.

Dekuyume tunes them all out, slipping into a meditation as Shizu explains that they have decided to move to the exterminator village. _Kami but this headache was killing her. Her limbs were already starting to fail her… It wouldn't be long now._ They would drop off the pair in the village, spend the night celebrating their Shikon fragment acquisition, and in the morning Dekuyume would convince them to head north. _No, it wouldn't be very long at all. Unable to put it off for any longer, Naraku would be having his day of weakness soon, and they would be there._


	70. Secrets and Lies

Chapter 69: Secrets and Lies

Ayame howled. Her form waivered under the strain of emotion, almost causing her to transform into her wolf yōkai true form. _Kōga was going to be her mate, and now he was dead._ She catches her breath, tears rolling down her cheeks from her green eyes as they take in the devastation the birds of paradise had wrought on the den at the base of the mountain Kōga had called his. _He was so strong, this shouldn't have happened._ A growl rumbles deep in her chest as her hands clench in rage, sharp nails cutting her palm. A clatter of rocks in the ruins catches her attention and a strange yōkai in a baboon pelt steps out from the shadows. "Who are you!"she shouts and the yōkai holds out his hands in a show of peace. "I am but a traveling sorcerer, Wolf-hime-sama. I would have left long ago, but I wanted to make sure that someone knew… I am sure that she will come for me next…"

Ayame's eyes widen in surprise, "What? What do you mean? What she?" Beneath his pelt Naraku smiles wickedly and spins his tale. _It's one of his his better ones, the tale of an ailing miko who once heard the rumors that mating with a Dai-yōkai could extend a humans life. Her pursuit of a Dai-yōkai in the form of the wolf prince Kōga, his refusal due to a promise made under a lunar rainbow, and his subsequent murder at the enraged miko's hands. The curse the scorned miko cast upon his pack, and their decimation at the hands of the birds of paradise. And of course, himself as the miko's next target, a spider yōkai who's species was known for its weaknesses to the fairer sex, and hanyō with an upcoming day of weakness, and so very_ _afraid_ _because he is in so very much danger because somehow, some way, the miko_ _knows_ _._ She eats the words out of his hands, agreeing easily to stand outside the gates for the palace he had claimed and wait for the evil miko to arrive.

 _It unsettles him, to lead the girl to his palace when he had taken such pains to hide it, however… it could not be avoided._ He had forced Kagura, by threat of crushed heart, to spy on Kagome and her sister. The news she brought back unsettled him. _He had spent too long dealing with Onigumo and the havoc his disgusting human heart had wrought on them, and as a result they were dangerously close to having the day of weakness they were still hanyō enough to be subjected too._

The large amounts of yōkai he had absorbed, and their very nature let them manipulate when the date would be, even push it back a bit, but… it could only be pushed back to a point and that point would happen today or the bonds that held his patchwork body together would become damaged beyond repair. _Oh how he wished he had not lost track of time, he needed just a few days_ , days he did not have because somehow, some way, Kagome and that damnable cart had left the roads and were on a direct path to _here_. _It must be some sorcery from Magatsuhi's reincarnation, and if the bitch was capable of this level of sorcery even with the miss-formed flesh growing in her brain, it was a good thing that he had not caused her to change illnesses. She was far too dangerous._

As Naraku finishes up his preparations Kagome enters his sensory range and he can feel her approach like fire in his blood. _Thankfully they weren't traveling very fast, and it would take them half a day just to get to his palace._ _He should have enough distractions in place so that by the time they made it inside, he would be recovered from his ordeal and ready to deal with them once and for all._

He removes his hands from the genesis pod he had been feeding energy into. Like all of the others, the pod was made of spider silk, moist and slick with pulsing veins feeding the soul he had trapped inside, a victim waiting for him to find a use for. _Had things gone according to plan, he would have pushed out Onigumo's soul into one of these, but they hadn't, nothing had gone according to plan since they saw Kagome in that cave._

He moves to the second pod, his lips twisting in disappointment. _These two were supposed to be his greatest weapons, a child with the ability to bend others to his will and a man with the ability to craft illusions bending his victims perception to his will._ He would be forced to use them as a distraction, Magatsuhi's reincarnation had stolen all of his other incarnations, and would likely have Kagura as well before his time of weakness was passed. _He would be lucky if the treacherous incarnation didn't lead the miko right to the jar he kept Kagura's heart in._

Naraku moves to the third pod, an empty shell filled with spare parts but no soul. He had intended to place Onigumo inside, but it was useless now. _Useless for anything but this…_ The first genesis pod twitches, swelling inside. Judging it's size just right, Naraku walks to the trap door next to it and goes through. Inky black tendrils of hair and flesh colored tentacles come out of the opening and lift the lid and the oversized genesis pod on top of it, before placing the whole thing down on top of the opening, hiding it from sight.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Her nose picked up the scent of holy magic and sickness before she saw them. A growl began deep in her throat as the cart that carried her nemesis came over the hill, and only increased in volume as people came out. She could smell the miko she sought and realized that she would have to go through these people in order to get her vengeance. _She would not be gentle, it didn't matter if they knew the truth or not. They were protecting the woman who killed Kōga and so they would die too._

She launches into an attack the moment they get close enough, her powerful legs carrying her into their midst where she spins, throwing her sharp cutting leaves at them like shuriken.

The children, Jūrōmaru and Jinenji are gathered at the front of the cart so they can watch the fight. Dekuyume makes no sound as hands reach through the back and snatch her away into the trees. By the time that Ayame shouts, "You will pay for killing my mate Kōga of the eastern mountain wolf tribe!" she is already too far away to hear.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagura throws the miko to the ground, desperate to break contact with her. _No yōkai ever lived long while touching a miko's skin, and she would not die now, not when she was so close to being free._ However, now that she had the woman on the ground she realized just how difficult it would be to get the miko to break Naraku's hold on her heart. _Damn… The woman couldn't walk, and she was also blind…_

Dekuyume tries to smile reassuringly, but the throbbing in her head is maddening, and hitting the ground had not helped. "I apologize, Kagura-chan." Shaken from her thoughts by the miko's words Kagura can only stare at the woman in surprise as Dekuyume continues. "I have wanted to save you for quite some time now, but the means that Naraku left open for the others were not ones I could use on you. And now that we have finally made it to the place he has hidden your heart, I am unable to see or walk. Please forgive me, but I find that I must ask you to help me save you as I am unable to do much on my own."

Kagura stared intently at the woman, coming to kneel before her. _She was serious. This woman meant every last word that she had just said. I… I don't know how I felt about that._ Kagura's whispered out "Why?" was deeply drenched in emotion for something spoken so quietly. But Dekuyume heard it all the same, and can't help but remember that no matter how old these souls she has stolen from Naraku were, they were still very, very young.

Placing her hand on Kagura's cheek, just below her wide confused eyes Dekuyume smiles gently, "Because family is precious, and all children are sacred, even if they are demons." Kagura stares at her in wonder. _I wish… I wish this woman had created us instead of Naraku_. _But now is not the time for wishes…_ Shifting forward, Kagura picks up Dekuyume and with the wind beneath her feet, she glides along the ground into the palace and the place that Naraku has hidden her heart.

Bright ruby eyes can only stare in wonder when Dekuyume simply takes the jar off of the shelf, removes the lid and pours the heart out onto her waiting hands. _So much pain it had caused her, and it had been as simple as that._ The shattering of pottery on the ground as it falls from Dekuyume's hands makes her heart tremble and the organ simply turns into particles of red light that move into her chest. Kagura falls to her knees with a twisted cry of joy and solvency. The miko in her arms twists and wraps her in a hug as Kagura cries, the warm pulsing in her chest confirming that she was, at last, _free_. _Not even her wind was chained to her fan anymore, only her heart, only her will, her will and no others._

After a few moments, Dekuyume uses the edge of her kimono jacket to wipe away her daughter's tears. Quietly she asks, "Will you take me to where he is keeping the ones who aren't born yet?" Filled with a storm of positive emotions Kagura tightens her arms around Dekuyume and carries her away leaving behind the shattered remains of her entrapment.

Kagura had been confined to the palace long enough that she knew every shortcut between the genesis room and the jar room. As a result it took less than a minute of wind dashing to get there. Unwilling to waste time by putting the miko down, Kagura simply wills the wind to push the doors in. Taking in the scene the two women curse at the same time.

The room was full of miasma, and the three pods inside had clearly been injected with it. Dekuyume glares into the room as her daughter sets her down. _It was bad enough that he injected the pod meant to reincarnate Onigumo with poison in the hopes that it would make her think that she had failed, it was another entirely for him to actually poison the other two. If she had ever had any doubts that she deserved every bit of the bad karma she endured, this was proof that she deserved it._

Kagura draws her fan before stepping into the room with her sleeve covering her mouth and raising her fan, she tears a hole in the roof, and blows all of the ambient poison out.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The battle in the courtyard was a tragedy and a mess. Everyone is startled by the explosion that comes from the castle, and they all take a moment to catch their breath. Realizing that she was at fault for depriving the wolf of her mate, Kagome had broken down. Even now, her sobs of "I didn't know… I didn't know…" come from the cart where she sits bundled safely in Inuyasha's arms. _He wanted to be out there fighting the wolf with Sango and Kohaku, but he couldn't live with himself if he killed her with Murasame, and Kagome needed him._

Unfortunately that meant that the past two hours had been spent with Sango and Kohaku the only two capable of fighting the female. Occasional interjections from Kirara gave the two exterminator siblings breathers, but they were still tiring, fortunately, so was she. Though they had since realized the lies that the wolf Dai-yōkai had been told, none of their words had gotten through to the grieving woman. They could not, because she believed that it was _they_ who had been lied too.

From her position in a crater on one knee, fist to the ground and breathing heavily Ayame pulls herself together. Her body is tired, but her mind is still sharp as she realizes that explosions in the palace behind her meant that the miko that killed Kōga was not in the cart, but was chasing down that spider hanyō.

Sango and Kohaku shout in anger as the wolf princess turns and runs after her prey.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Dekuyume kneels at the smallest genesis pod, sweat pouring down her brow as she simultaneously pushes the poison to the non-essential parts of the genesis pod and pushes the magic that was inherent in it towards the body and soul inside. She carefully peels the layers back with her tantō as she feels the soul inside ready itself for birth. Her hands shake horribly due to the headache that would have left her blind if she wasn't there already. _But the yin-yang tantō was enchanted to cut only what she wished, and when thrown it would fly through the air according to her will. She had no fear of slipping and cutting the son stirring inside._ Just as her hand enters the pod to wrap around the hand straining for her, all hell breaks loose.

Ayame arrives through the hole in the roof, pounding the ground with her fist summoning up a whirlwind of leaves around herself. The shockwave rocks Kagura on her feet, but the wind sorceress merely readies her fan. Dekuyume carefully helps her third son out of the slime inside the genesis pod. Gently, she places her hand on his face, wiping the goo out of his eyes. His dark purple eyes widen in surprise when he takes in the sight of his savior, "Kaasan?" Dekuyume nods, helping him out the rest of the way while Kagura calls "Dance of Blades!" The collision of Kagura's attack against Ayame's is deafening, and she pushes him gently towards the torn remains of the doors. "Go Byakuya-kun! It isn't safe in here!"

The dust settles as he wobbly leaves the room leaving a trail of goo behind. Dekuyume sighs in relief before turning her eyes to Ayame and Kagura to get a measure of the damage. Her breath catches in her throat. The second pod had been over a trap door, now collapsed into the path that led to the basement. But the pod, the pod had been split in half, occupant and all. Kagura pushes the wolf out of the room with a wind gust, following after. _She would not let a girl foolish enough to believe Naraku's lies be the reason that he survived this day!_

Explosions ring out through the palace while Dekuyume crawls to the two split halves of the genesis pod. She sits on the stairs that descend down the trap door, one hand on each of the wavering masses that were _not_ ready to be exposed. _It burns, as she takes the poison in their bodies into herself. But nothing ever manages to overpower the intense throbbing in her head, or the oddly powerful numb sensation she gets from her legs. But that doesn't matter. None of it does, she hasn't failed any of her children yet, and she won't start now. Not when they are so close to the end._

Kohaku and Sango burst into the room led there by a naked Dai-yōkai covered in slime. Byakuya peeks into the room as he wraps an illusion around his nakedness, giving him the appearance of being dressed in a kimono decorated with lotus. Sango steps over to the opening in the other side of the room as Dekuyume moans in pain from the strain of healing the last of her children and the poison eating its way through her. Just that moment, Ayame dashes by in attempts to avoid Kagura's Dance of the Dragon, and is promptly knocked unconscious by Sango and Hiraikotsu. Those gathered stare in wonder as Dekuyume finally collapses into herself with a relieved sigh.

Two identical twins with white hair and purple eyes sat up from the remains of the pod that man had trapped them in. _He had whispered horrible things to them and then he said that he hoped that she failed and that she had to watch them dissolve in the poison he injected into the pod with them. They had wondered who this she was, and then just as they were torn apart they found out who. They could tell she was weak in body, that her mind hurt just as much and they thought for sure that the man would be right, that she would fail. But she hadn't, she had taken the poison into herself to spare them from it, and when the two halves of themselves had cried out in anguish for the loss of the other, she had served as a bridge, allowing them to stretch across the great divide between them and become whole once more._ Gently the two twins reach out and hold the exhausted woman's shaking hands. She smiles tremblingly at them, "Hakudōshi-kun, Shirodōshi-kun, welcome to the world."

She releases their hands and her smile turns grim as a black tentacle wraps around her ankle and drags her out of sight into the nightmare below.


	71. The Battlefield

Chapter 70: The Battlefield

The rumble is their only warning. Naraku, finished with his day of weakness, remains in his expanded state instead of collapsing into a human form. The wooden floors of the palace are no match for him, and he pushes himself up through it, tearing it apart around him. Dekuyume's pained shout is the only thing strong enough to jar all those gathered out of their stupor. And so while Naraku laughs, "Ku. Ku. Ku." and sends masses of tentacles and random appendages tearing through the remains of the palace, everyone gathers together for their final stand.

Hoping to demoralize them all before the fight even starts, he swings at the cart. _Not only would the death of the children break their spirits quickly, it would prevent them from going inside to heal only to spring back out to fight him more._ It wasn't to be though, when Dekuyume set about crafting the spell matrix to withstand the weight of a mountain, she meant it, and with Jinenji pouring his chi into the array, the fleshy appendage simply bounced off.

Under the cover of Kagome's arrows, Sango's Hiraikotsu, and a surprise Dance of the Dragon courtesy of Kagura, Byakuya, Hakudōshi and Shirodōshi climb into the back of the cart, still naked and covered in genesis goo. When the occupants turn to look at them in surprise ,Hakudōshi raises his head and glares at them in challenge, "My Kaasan has been captured by the poisoner. We may not be strong enough to stand with them, but we can do something from here!"

That is all the incentive they need for volleys of random attacks, to come pouring out of the cart with cries of, "She's my Kaasan/Anesan too!" The attacks don't do much because of their level of power and age, however it inspires Naraku to taunt them with Dekuyume in hopes that he can lure one or two of them outside the carts protection. He impales Dekuyume with a few more of his tentacles. The children shout in anger, and the intensity of the attacks launched from the cart increase twofold, but they remain safe inside, refusing to be lured out. _She had taught them well._

Naraku grimaces in pain as the exterminators weapons tear through his flesh, and ignores Inuyasha with his pathetic enchanted blade. _He could repair any damage the exterminators did to him, and Naraku had thousands of hearts to sacrifice to the curse. The true danger lay in Kagome's arrows, but he wasn't a shape shifter for nothing, and it was a trivial, albeit annoying, task to simply create holes wide enough for the arrows to pass through his form without touching his flesh._

Frustrated, Kagome pushes her bow onto her shoulders, pulls her daggers from underneath her skirt and throws herself forward with a battle cry. The two blades sink deeply into the mass of tentacles Naraku left on the ground, and he hisses in pain as an unprecedented amount of mass and magic is lost.

Dekuyume chuckles through the pain of the tentacles he twists inside of her, causing Naraku to sneer at her, "Your exterminators, that fool Inuyasha and your sister are nothing against my power. Surely you don't mean to defeat me with an army of children. I will not hesitate to kill them just because they are young. I might even draw it out and fill them with so much suffering that they will hate you for being a part of their lives."

He dangles her limp form over the cart and shakes her violently. While swirling his tentacles below him to avoid further damage from the miko below chasing after him with intent to kill. Dekuyume smiles reassuringly at the little faces peering up at her. She returns her focus to Naraku, _I am so much more than I was then…_ "The children are a consequence of war and conscience. They will be perfectly fine right where they are. Now if you are quite done grasping at ways to shake our unshakable resolve… It's time for you to die…"

Dekuyume smirks wickedly, "It doesn't matter what trickery you resort to, you won't win. We're from the _future_ and no matter how hopeless it might seem right now, I know exactly what you are going to do next. I've read the scrolls that talk about it. You will lose."

To the horror of those watching, with a wordless cry of denial… _Naraku retaliates by adsorbing Dekuyume_.

Kagome runs right past Hiei shouting, "No! Give her back! Give her back! Anesan! Anesan! Please, come back!" Time pauses in accordance to her will and Kagome no Kami flinches from the echoing anguish in her human self's voice.

The red eyed goddess at her side pats her on the shoulder once before stepping forward and accepting a silk wrapped jewel fragment from Hiei. With carefully measured steps, and without a backwards glance she walks to Naraku, and then… Into his battlefield.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

She resurrects to a roar of rage somewhere off in the distance and her body stapled to the ground, face down by the tentacles that Naraku had impaled her with earlier. From her position there on the ground, she could see the vast field of bones and viscera strewn about with interspersed piles of skin and sacks of fluid. Here and there was the occasional, mostly complete body part, a favorite that he didn't want to go through the trouble of disassembling.

The air was damp and body temperature hot and smelled unpleasantly of bile and poison. _She could not stay here. The kami's curse may have initially prevented Naraku from removing her soul and forcing it into the service of his collective… But she was inside the dimension that he kept all of his extra mass in now, it would not take long for him to find her. If he caught her again, he would succeed._

Slowly, she moved her hands into position. _She could do this._ _She had memories of doing it, but just like everything else that had happened since she gained that knowledge… Knowing the story and living it were two very different things._ With a cry of pain she pushed herself up and onto her knees, tearing the tentacles out of the ground. They writhed violently in attempts to pull her back down, but a quick cut of her yin-yang tantō was enough to put an end to that.

And so awash with agony, she suddenly understood why that woman had left her with the endless parade of human frailties when she planned this life. _At first she had assumed it to be vengeance, and then she had assumed it was meant to be one of the more unfortunate versions of immortality... but now she knew better. Because of it, there was no weapon her past self could use against her, not even death. She knew them intimately already._

As she forced herself to rise to her feet she coughed horribly, she did not need her hurt seeking spell to know that she had a punctured lung. _It feels like eternity_ , the stumbling march to the center of Naraku's being that leaves bloody footprints behind in her wake.

She falls. Many times.

As she is forced to climb a small pile of giants finger bones she falls down the other side. A cry of pain is forced from her lungs before she spends the next few minutes coughing up blood. Hands scramble around her thigh, only to find that one of the bones was broken, and had gone through the inner part of her thigh. _It would have to stay, the chance that it had cut her femoral artery was too high to risk pulling it out._ The tantō switches hands, and with a vicious swing, she shatters the bone and _her yin-yang tantō_.

Using one of the loose finger bones she uses it like a crutch as she rises, tears are smeared across her face from the pain, and she uses the sleeve of her kimono jacket to wipe them off, but leaves her blood behind. Careful of her chest injuries Dekuyume draws her other tantō, _The yin-yang tantō may have been her first choice, but the equilibrium tantō would always be her last…_

With a trembling breath she continues forward in more pain than before, but at least the addition of the bone causes her to fall less. And so rapidly approaching her death, bone in one hand, and tantō in another, she walks around a ribcage pulsating with the beating of a thousand hearts of various shapes and sizes to come face to head with the man of the hour.

Naraku's head is turned away from her. White encapsulated neuron chains and black hair are all that is holding his head aloft in the air. His eyes were closed, focused on the various sensory organs strewn throughout his internal world in attempts to find her tiny form inside his giant mass. The black Shikon fragment was dull and black from his touch, hanging motionless from a black tendril of hair. _Almost there… Soon it would all be over… and then she could rest…_

Three steps from death, **_A quiet breath_** , a blood soaked cough held inside with the practice granted from a thousand drowning deaths _she drops the bone to remove the fragment of the tiny jewel from her pocket._

Two steps from death, **_The bone hits the ground_** _,_ Naraku's eyes shoot open in surprise _but that didn't matter she was nearly done._

One step from death, **_Tentacles shoot towards her from all directions_** _,_ her equilibrium tantō rises and then descends, _it's ok, she always knew that she was going to die for this._

 _It would be so easy to just lay here and let the end come. But she couldn't give up, she had promised Magatsuhi's daughter that she wouldn't ever give up until they all lived and became the family they were meant to be..._ She forces herself into awareness… _It was not pleasant._ So many tentacles had penetrated her body that she could barely be seen. _But she had done it_ , with the one eye that had not been pierced, she could see the tantō and it's magic glowing from where it was embedded in Naraku's skull. His eyes were closed, his body, mind and soul held captive by the spell. In her one free hand she held two of the three fragments of the Shikon no Tama.

Her eye closes to blink away the tears. Then, after the misery of an eternal moment spent at deaths threshold, someone takes her hand, placing the third fragment inside. It reforms with a small glass clack, and the nearly perfect ebony abyss of Naraku fades into the black of a midsummer night's full moon.

Her eye slowly opens, a testament to her exhaustion. The red eyed woman wearing Ito's face was kneeling between all the tentacles and organs piercing Dekuyume's body, the slimy human hand gripped delicately in her own. _It was about time she showed up._ Dekuyume flinches. She had been fast enough to break Naraku's power, but not fast enough to stop him from activating the preset adsorption protocols he had in place to deal with the beings he adsorbed. _Why take the time to harvest all the beings he adsorbed, when it could happen autonomously in the background while he plotted his next acquisition?_

She grits her teeth against the pain _, the tentacles were relentless and so very meticulous as they slowly butchered her body parts for further use, each piece kept whole and alive as they were removed and fused into his organic matrix of parts._ Her body was a mass of pulsating slimy things, _and it would be for the rest of eternity._

Dekuyume focused her eye on the red eyed woman kneeling patiently at her side. The woman in question had withdrawn her hand just enough to close Dekuyume's hand around the Shikon no Tama. Her other hand, holding a fan, rested gently atop Dekuyume's closed fist. Her black kimono was painted with red camellia and blue iris, and the fan was a pink and black yin-yang. Dekuyume's voice is strained as she speaks. "So it's finally time is it?"

The kneeling woman smiles in tired serenity, "Yes. Yes it is."

Dekuyume's next words are cut off with a choke as she loses her punctured lung to the harvesting tentacles. She tries again after the searing pain of having the connections replaced with Naraku's dulls. Unconscious and spellbound, Naraku was breathing for her now, though it was still her with own voice and words that spoke. "You're sure?"

The woman nods, smiling gently, "Yes. It will take some doing; the knot we will tie in time will have to be complicated enough to prevent the other kami from undoing it. This time ,everyone will be saved, and no one will be left incomplete."

Dekuyume sighs, "We will see the world through my eyes, and feel with my heart, wherever it has gone in this mess. No matter the perspective of time; we will _always_ be human first. Always just _her_ sister…" The third reincarnation smiles at the woman who lived the life she had sought for _so very long_ , "We will have no regrets." She tilts her head to the side, and taps her fan against her cheek, "Are you ready? It will hurt." Dekuyume laughs dryly, it's rough and broken, but heart deep all the same, "Does change ever _not_ hurt?" The third reincarnation laughs, "Nope."

The third reincarnation taps Dekuyume on the forehead. Dekuyume falls unconscious into the space between her body, mind and soul. With sharp red eyes she watches as the command seal she placed on the red leather journal awakens. The command seal lashes out through her body, searching out the limits of self. It passes through the tentacles embedded in her body without resistance, each part that once bore the title "Naraku's" now renamed "Mine". Through hundreds of thousands of miles of flesh, bone and blood it radiates out in a wave. When it crashes against Naraku's tantō impaled head, the reaction turns violent and in the end…

 _It rips out his souls, entrapping every last member of the collective inside the pages of the journal._

 _The human, Higurashi Dekuyume dies, and in her place rises the sum of all her parts._

 _A single soul takes the throne in an empty chamber and vibrantly colored butterfly tattoos replace spider shaped burn scars._

The third reincarnation whistles long and low as Naraku's head collapses into dust and the tantō falls to the ground. She picks up the tantō, examining it with an appreciative eye. "To think that we could create a knife with the ability to cut holes into the space between a person's mind, body, and soul…" Almost negligently, she uses the tantō on Dekuyume cutting a one inch gash on the unconscious hanyō's shoulder.

A single swish of her fan is more than enough to summon the red leather journal and soul filled pages.

A second swish and the time traveling kami of _The Eternal Battlefield_ separates from her young ship, taking the journal out of Dekuyume's inner world.

With a third swish the third reincarnation, that beleaguered soul who had seen Gods End when the Shikon no Kami turned her into _The Eternal Battlefield,_ revokes the Shikon no Kami's authority over her domain and vanishes into Dekuyume's cut, sealing it closed with the kingdom she had promised a future version of herself.

The white encapsulated neuron chains that once connected Naraku to the rest of himself twine themselves together into a rope before disappearing behind Dekuyume's head.

Dekuyume's tentacle covered mass jerks violently and she awakes.


	72. The Dark and Dirty Truth

Chapter 71: The Dark and Dirty Truth

Dekuyume no Kami woke up on her feet; the others gathered around her, weapons ready and the Shikon no Tama at her feet. She bent slowly, her movements as fluid now as they were a never/forever ago in _The Amphitheatre_. The jewel fumed madly in her hands, flashing colors so fast it appeared to be screaming profanities. It was a whisper of air, but those gathered around Naraku's human form heard the command all the same.

"That's enough Shikon."

The jewel ceased flashing immediately, the vibrant colors settling to a nighttime black. Dekuyume looks at her imouto from through her nemesis's eyes. She waits patiently until slowly Kagome lowers her bow, ignoring the others protestations. "Anesan... You… you _won_." Dekuyume smiles gently and with his voice she speaks, "Yes. It would appear that the hearts of modern era women are much stronger than a feudal era thief's. And now it's time we end this." The others are taken aback; the expression is so foreign on Naraku's face.

Kagome steps forward uncertainly. "How?" Dekuyume sighs. _She didn't want to say it… but she would. She owed Kagome-chan nothing but the truth, no matter how dark and dirty it was._ "Imouto. Complete the following series: Midoriko, Kikyō, Kagome and paired with them Magatsuhi, Naraku and …" Kagome's eyes widen and everyone but her raises their weapons. The children cry out in denial from the cart as Kagome whispers, "Dekuyume."

Dekuyume nods looking down at the Shikon in her hands. "The only thing worse than the karmic dept inherited from a past life, is being forced to watch ourselves do what we did to deserve it, and remember enjoying every minute of it."

Kagome shakes her head in horror. Dekuyume grabs her hand and between their two palms drops the Shikon. The two of them are left staring at the jewel and it's perfect pink and black yin-yang spiraling lazily in a circle. While Kagome stares in awe, Dekuyume whispers. "There are two ways to resolve the Shikon. We can make a wish, such that who you are now as Kagome, merges with Midoriko, and who I am as Dekuyume, merges with Magatsuhi and hope that our combined unwillingness to fight is enough to prevent its creation. It's rather fraught with peril, since we will have to rely on the Shikon to get the merging just right. _We are so very different than who we once were_ …"

Kagome huffs as she watches Naraku get lost in thought the same way her Anesan did sometimes. _Yeah, that was definitely Deku-neesan in there._ "Or what?" Dekuyume looks up at her imouto with a mischievous grin, "Or we grant the Shikon's wish, and relinquish the fractions of our souls it holds. We don't need them, having lived several lifetimes without them." Kagome's eyes go round and wide as her mind fills in all the blanks Dekuyume has just underlined in her previous understanding of the world. "No… _no way_."

Dekuyume throws her head back, "Ku. Ku. Ku!" Kagome slaps Dekuyume in the shoulder with her free hand, glaring at her sister in exasperation. Dekuyume chuckles quietly, "Yes way." Kagome's eyes are fierce and determined. "Let's do this!" As if the Shikon had been waiting for her to say those words, the world explodes into magic and light, and a young girls cry of denial.

When the light fades, their palms are twined with a young girls ebony hair. Shikon looks up at them with her ruby red eyes before shrieking in fear and jerks herself out of their hands, desperate to get away, only to fall on the ground. "No! Please! I! I just wanted to live!" Dekuyume steps forward before kneeling and Shikon curls up in a ball, whimpering, knowing that there was no chance she would escape. Dekuyume raises her hand.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The accomplice Kiyoshi no kami had preparing _The Wheel of Reincarnation_ was a red eyed goddess. _It hurt to look at her._ Onigumo had never been one to run from things that hurt him, and so he walked up to her instead, halting within arms distance. The closer he got, the less it pained him and so when he looked down at her in surprise and curiosity he sought the reason why. It was not hard to figure out, he could always sense the jewel, and the pain had come from sensing the Shikon no Tama behind the goddess and the fact that she was the Shikon too. _She was very different though, the Shikon no Tama always tasted like war, but this woman tasted like souls and learning._

Shikon no Kami smiles up at him before holding a fan decorated with red poppies in front of her mouth, "Don't go giving away any secrets now. It's no fun if you don't keep them guessing." To the surprise of the souls behind him, he bursts out laughing and shaking his head, he enters the pod. Only the two of them would ever know that in the space in between his stopping before her and her words, she had entered his collective soul told them the plan. _How could he not have laughed? Not a single soul would ever guess…_

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Shikon opens her eyes wide and looks up at Dekuyume who simply smiles gently down at her while ruffling her daughter's hair. "I hope you weren't expecting violence from me. I wouldn't be a very good Kaasan if I did that now would I?" Dekuyume looks down at her body with a frown, while everyone sputters in the background. "Though… I suppose you would call me father at the moment." Kagome laughs at her friends bamboozled expressions, while waiving the children over.

Dekuyume introduces Shikon to her siblings, explaining when Sango stomps her foot, demanding an explanation. "Sango-chan, why is it that all the yōkai souls in the equipment you use are checked for a strong fusion?" Sango scoffs, "That's easy, because if one of the soul shards breaks off and collides with one of yours you could make a female exterminator pregnant with a new…soul." The teenage exterminator's eyes widen as she takes in the Shikon's appearance for the first time, "Midoriko-sama and Magatsuhi…made the Shikon…"

Dekuyume smirks before scooping up Shikon who squeals in surprise before giggling, "Yep, and then Naraku and Kikyō-san had the world's most brutal custody battle. And Kagome-chan and I just decided to adopt, thought you should know." Plucking out a single black hair from her head, she twirls it through the air, creating a pink kimono with white and yellow poppies decorating it. She helps Shikon into it, before walking away from the ruined remains of Naraku's castle.

Dazed and confused Sango, Kohaku and Inuyasha follow along behind her. As Dekuyume helps Shikon into the cart, she calls out to Kagura who has remained standing in the rubble. "You're welcome to join us when it pleases you, but I do believe your heart has somewhere else it would rather be…" The wind sorceress is confused for a moment, placing her hand over her heart. It doesn't take long for her to realize that Dekuyume knows of her fascination with Sesshōmaru. Hiding her smirk behind her fan, she gives a small bow before she summons up her feather and flies off.

After she helps Kagome into the cart, Dekuyume focuses for a moment, before forcing a slight change in her genetics. The others stare in surprise as Naraku's form fades away; leaving the healthiest looking Dekuyume they have ever seen before to climb into the cart as it begins its trek back to the exterminator village to share the good news.

Kagome stares for a moment, "You know. I don't think I've ever seen you this happy before." Dekuyume grins, "That's because I've never been this happy before." Her sister can't help but grin back, "Oh? You know why?" Dekuyume, shakes her head before looking up at Shikon, "Imouto is being obtuse isn't she." Shikon giggles before looking at Kagome, "Kagome-Kaasan, Deku-Kaasan is happy because this time…" She looks sad for a moment before she shakes it off. Looking up she meets her soul mother's eyes. "Because this time we all lived, and no one had to be sacrificed so another could be complete."

Kagome's eyes widen, "I…" Dekuyume tries to break the tension, "No need for sadness now, it's all behind us." Kagome grins, "You know, after this, Okasan has to cook oden." Dekuyume's smile dims a little, knowing that she has one last truth to share… _Later… Let everyone enjoy the flush of victory. She would tell her later._

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Kagome no Kami waited impatiently next to the very, _very_ fast kami that Dekuyume no Kami had demanded they bring back in time with them. _Apparently, they were here to pick up a red leather journal full of information about their adventure, so that the third reincarnation would be able to get them all to this point in time in spite of the kami's curse._ Kagome no Kami's eyes narrow as she stares at the red eyed poufy haired kami. _I can't decide what I want to know more, how he managed to get a fragment of the Shikon no Tama, or how he gets his hair to stand straight up like that._ Her head jerks up as Dekuyume no kami rushes out of Naraku with the journal in her hands.

Kagome no kami's vision blurs as she and Dekuyume no kami are thrown over Hiei's shoulders and sped through the mortal plain and into the well before the youngest form of Dekuyume no kami deifies. The blue eyed goddess clings to the side of the well in the modern era as Hiei bows once to Dekuyume no kami, and jerks out of reach before she can ruffle his hair. "Have fun with your fox game, _Hiei-kun._ " Hiei smirks before disappearing into thin air. Kagome no kami asks what the other goddess means, but Dekuyume no kami simply points out that they should be on their way to hide the journal away in a knot of time before Kiyoshi or one of the other nearby kami notices their presence.

With a huff of annoyance, the two disappear down _The Well of Time_ , off to tie another knot.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-O-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

In the quiet of the night, long after everyone had finished celebrating the jewels end, when only the two women from the future were awake, Dekuyume decided that it was time she shared the last sad truths with her imouto.

 _Dekuyume was now a kami of The Eternal Battlefield, and she already existed in the future._

 _There would be no more traveling in time, not for her._

Beseechingly Kagome looks up at her sister, "But what about our family? Won't you miss them? Kaasan, Sofu, Sōta? Buyo?" Dekuyume closes her eyes with a sigh. "I have every intention of taking the long way home. 500 years is a reasonable amount of time when you are a yōkai." Kagome hugs her sister before a thought crosses her mind causing her to pull back to look at her sister with worry and sorrow, "But if that's the case, then when you get home, won't… won't you be home for even shorter amount of time?"

Dekuyume looks up at the sky, searching for answers in the infinite sea of stars as she ruffles her imouto's hair. "Otousan is a kami, and Okaasan will be his consort, I will never lose my parents to time." Kagome pulls away to sit next to Dekuyume. She stares down at her lap, disheartened while Dekuyume continues. "I may be a kami now but I am still an adsorption yōkai." Kagome looks up confused, as Dekuyume reaches out taking her sisters hands in her own as she explains, her heart trembling with a fear she would not voice, "Provided my siblings are willing to place their trust in me over the reincarnation kami, I am perfectly capable of reincarnating them over and over as they see fit, so that no one ever has to say good bye."

Kagome squeals with joy and glomps her anesan, Dekuyume only sighs, melting into the hug. Dekuyume's lips twist into a mischievous smile. "Of course, that really only applies to our otouto, and in-laws. Or don't you remember your Kami self running around while you were a child?"

"Eh!?"


	73. The Plot

Epilogue: The Plot

Sōta was confused. _Scratch that, he wasn't just confused, he was_ _very_ _confused._ He had asked Kagome no kami, _and wasn't that confusing,_ to explain the whole time travel thing. _He had expected something that made sense, because if anyone could make sense out of time travel, it would be the kami of time travelers wouldn't it?_ He shakes his head, _yeah… no. Not making that mistake again._

Sōta stares down the steps as Kagome no kami takes Botan shopping, with poor Aki to serve as the bag boy. _He still couldn't believe that Kagome-neechan was a kami and that the Inuyasha-san he had hears such wonderful stories about was actually Hōjō Aki reincarnated. It… it just didn't make any sense._ Turning away from the steps to the shrine, he walks past _The Sacred Tree_ and _The Well of Time._ A cobblestone path with torri overhead appears, one only visible to those who know the secret. He follows it to the end, pausing only long enough to perform the hand purification at the blessed fountain at the entrance.

He spots his Anesan sipping tea at a kotatsu underneath a blooming cherry blossom tree. She looks up as he approaches, "Otouto what has you so out of sorts?" she asks with an amused smile, though she can already guess. "I have no idea how we get knots out of time, or how Botan-san is the key to everything. I asked neesan but she made no sense."

At his pouty admission Dekuyume explains. "There are three loops in time, and all of them begin because of Boton-chan. To keep things straight, we will call them time line loop A, loop B and loop C, the people who are from those loops then would be Botan-A, Botan-B and Botan-C, and Ships then are Ship-A, and so forth." Sōta nods and catching wind of the exposition, several people run up. Dekuyume's children all wind up vying for positions at the kotatsu. Kanna, Hakudōshi and Shirodōshi flicker into existence while Shippō and Byakuya try to illusion everyone into thinking that there is someone in their chosen spot. Sōten lightning arcs into place, Kōryū desperately holding onto Raigekijin's sheath. There wasn't really any need. With Shikon-chan husband hunting, Ambrosia dealing with matters on the immortal plain, Kagura pregnant with her second litter of puppies, Jūrōmaru playing the koto in the garden while Jinenji tended to the plants there and Shiori asleep for the day, there was room for everyone… for once.

Taking a sip of tea Dekuyume shakes her head at their antics, but says nothing, being well used to them by now. "All right. So everything begins with loop A and consequently, Botan-A. During their first attempt at reincarnating everyone in this era, Kagome-A, the domain-less kami, was sacrificed to power _The Well of Time-A_. This caused an error in the ship because it knew that at one point in all the loops of time, Kagome-A was/will be its primary operator. Shikon-A, in transit through time, received full ownership over the fragment of Kagome-A's soul upon her death, and rather easily gained it's other key fragment from the third reincarnation-A, or almost-Dekuyume-A whichever you prefer."

Dekuyume sighs, "This reincarnation of myself had millions of souls ruthlessly forced into a single unit, and had to go through the reincarnation reprocessing twice. It had no chance against Shikon-A. To make matters worse, Shikon-A decided that because her ability to use _The Eternal Battlefield-A_ went haywire if the Jewel that housed her soul and served as the physical manifestation of her ship was in pieces, she chose to fuse the jewel and the third reincarnation-A together, turning the incarnation into _The Eternal Battlefield-A_." She looks around at the gathered Higurashi and smiles sadly, "It wasn't so bad in the very beginning, but every time it's kami demanded that she do something, or not do something else, she lost a little more of her freedom. In the end, it completely deprived the third reincarnation-A of her free will, in all but one thing, but I get ahead of myself."

"Because the death of Kagome-A, Shikon-A became kami of _The Well of Time_ -A, and due to the commands she gave it, she managed to damage both her new ship, and destroy _The Spirit World-A_. Seeking closure while Shikon-A was meeting/eating the other kami, Botan-A went into _The Well of Time_ -A. Possessing enough free will at the time to do so, and with a direct connection through Shikon-A, _The Eternal Battlefield_ -A left a random time portal open, Botan-A saw this and chose to take it."

Dekuyume grins, "Now here is where it get's interesting. Because she is a vassal of one of the death kami, she cannot die. She can be incarnated, and her body can die, but her soul cannot die, and traveling though time like that managed to hurt her enough to threaten just that. So the universe and time conspired to obey this fact." Everyone stares wide eyed at Dekuyume who can only smile and nod in the face of their surprise. "It could not send her to time loop B. There was no one that would have noticed her, even if they had, the number of people who had the ability to heal a soul Ferrier are rather limited, and she would have had her soul die. It was forced to send her to time loop C, where Dekuyume-C had set up a barrier that automatically directed help to people in need, and possessed the knowledge to heal her."

"After healing, Botan-A was introduced to everyone here in the Higurashi sanctuary, and we are currently preparing to deal with securing loop B. In the next few days, Kagome-chan is going to open a time portal to the furthest point she can reach in the future of loop-B, the end of time, where Shikon no Tama-B has just been pulled from the collapse of the dimension. There, in line B, she(Kagome-Kami), Shikon-chan(Shikon-Kami), myself(Dekuyume-Kami), and Otousan(Kiyoshi-Kami) will steal Shikon-B right from under the noses of the other kami."

"Keep in mind that kami are immune to time, and so Kiyoshi-Kami will merge with his other self. Shikon-Kami is fundamentally different from Shikon-B, one is complete because she has full ownership over her soul, and the other is only a kami because it has all the right parts, even if they belong to someone else. They do not even share a domain, and the two will not merge. I will remain unchanged, but will be unable to use my abilities as a kami without alerting Shikon-B."

"Ok, so then Shikon-Kami and Botan-A will take over and prepare _The Wheel of Reincarnation-B_ to reincarnate Naraku/Onigumo-B and Inuyasha-B. Kiyoshi-Kami will bring them there along with Kagome-B. Once they are done Botan-A will take the two reincarnations, Kagome-B, and Shikon-B in castaway bottles through _The Well of Time_ -B and into the past of loop C. Castaway bottles are interesting, because they are completely separate dimensions inside, thus work excellently as shields for kami who want to travel back in time to only merge with themselves at a specific point in time. I will be in _The Well of Time-B_ 's power room, and watch over Kiyoshi-Kami as he powers it. Once Botan-A is through, and thus the Shikon no kami-B, I will place Otousan in another castaway bottle and preemptively feed power from _The Eternal Battlefield-C_ into _The Well of Time-B_ …"

Dekuyume looks around sternly, "Since Botan-chan is currently walking around town with Kagome-chan, I am now going to tell you what happens after that. You are not under any circumstances to tell Botan-chan what I am going to tell you. It could very well erase the entirety of our time loop." There are nods and agreements from all around.

"Good, because this is where everything gets really, _really_ interesting. After dropping off Naraku/Onigumo-B's reincarnation in time loop C to become Dekuyume-C, and Inuyasha-B's reincarnation to become Hōjō-kun, Botan-A is finally pulled into the far future of loop A. As she begins to dissolve without a kami to support her power of existence, she opens the castaway bottle containing Kagome-B and Shikon-B. Because the Shikon no tama is a kami, it merges with Shikon-A, resulting in Shikon-AB."

 _"_ _The Eternal Battlefield_ -A, rescues Botan-A, making her part of its domain, and takes her and Kagome-B to _The Well of Time_ -A. It is still battered and torn apart, but it is in better condition than everything else. At that point in time Shikon-A had eaten all of the other Kami, there wasn't much of anything left but the two ships and things she willed to exist..." As she pauses to take a sip of her tea her eyes pass over her little brother and children. _My, she hadn't been the center of attention like this since the last time one of them was young enough for formal education… Perhaps she should start teaching again…_

"At that point, Shikon-A had issued so many commands that _The Eternal Battlefield_ -A had only one thing left that she could choose to do without interference from her kami, she still had the option to choose a different primary operator. _The Eternal Battlefield-_ A takes that option and changes the nature of the battlefield between Shikon-AB and Kagome-B so that the kami is forced to release the soul fragment she owned from Kagome-A and the soul fragment she had stolen from the ship before it was changed. Botan-A, The Eternal Battlefield-A, and Kagome-B go through the time portal once more, causing Shikon-AB to suffer a severe schism, both in spirit and domain and ultimately perish, causing the absolute-end of time A."

"Now fully complete, Kagome-B becomes the kami of _The Well of Time-_ B as they return to loop B. They arrive just as all the native kami are experiencing a time wave. They are absent during this as they have another layer of time added to their power of existence, and thus, even though Yama-Kami and an older version of Kiyoshi-Kami appear afterwards, they are not there when everyone arrives. I will enter the time room moments after them, having finished adding more power to _The Well of Time_ -B."

"Now what you have to remember is that I am already the primary operator of _The Eternal Battlefield-_ C, and the domain itself is not immune to time. As a result, I will carry two versions of the ship around for the next part of our time travels, even though I will make a show of it, and pretend to gain another domain."

"Kagome-Kami, Dekuyume-Kami, and Botan-A go back into the time portal taking all of the kami freshly coming out of a time wave and forcing them to go through a time fold, bringing about the absolute-end of time loop B. The three come out into the far past of loop C when _The Well of Time-C_ lands outside of Edo. It is _this_ Botan-A that is assigned to watch over the ship, and eventually everyone's travels through it. Botan-B merges seamlessly with Botan-C when time folds, and her human life will end shortly after the assignment. With how many times time has folded, Koenma-Kami will accidentally make her a ferry girl the moment her soul walks into his office for judgment. Because he forgets, she will not go through the same emotional training as everyone else, and thus remain the bubbly girl we all know and love."

"At the end of the assignment period, I am going to personally manage the merging of Botan-A with the Botan-BC currently moving around doing her duties for _The Spirit World_. This will anchor her knot in time, and will ensure that her time with us is not forgotten." There are happy smiles all around, _Botan-chan may not have been allowed to leave The Sacred Tree, on the mortal plain but it served as a boundary line for the Higurashi sanctuary, and she had been fully capable of going there since it was on the immortal plain. It would have hurt a great many Higurashi if they had seen her again, but she had not known who they were._

"Kagome-Kami will play around with her new powers as a kami, stirring up chaos for any kami trying to watch them, while I visit with Botan-A and watch over the conception of Shikon-C. At this point in time, there will be three unmerged versions of _The Eternal Battlefield_. With so much more influence over the domain, I will be able to partially decrease the amount of trouble that the freshly minted kami can stir up. I am also going to be responsible for preventing _The Paradox_ , _The Fates_ , _The Executioner_ , and _The Ouroboros_ from killing Shikon-C."

"Time will move forward, as always, and Kagome-Kami will return with our speedy little troublemaker, to stand with myself/Dekuyume-kami as they watch as Naraku/Onigumo-C adsorbs Dekuyume-ABC." She holds up her hands to forestall any questions. "Bare with me, I have my own knot in time, and it is not as straight forwards as Botan-chan's or Kagome-chan's."

"I will enter the battlefield that is Naraku/Onigumo-C's Body. There, I will watch as Dekuyume-ABC overcomes Naraku/Onigumo-C, collect all the different souls that make up Naraku/Onigumo-C in the red leather journal from Dekuyume-ABC. To this mess I will also add the soul fragment that _The Eternal Battlefield-_ A picked up from Shikon-A later I will add a copy of all of my memories up to that point. _The Eternal Battlefield-_ A will then split from me, and we will all quickly leave before Dekuyume-ABC can become the first instance of Dekuyume-kami and thus forcing us to merge."

 _There was so much wonder in the eyes of her little brother that she just couldn't help but pull him into a hug._ "We will briefly wind up in this era to due to a blind time jump, but Kagome-Kami and I will make three time jumps after wards. The first is witnessed by Shippō-kun and Sōten-kun at the beginning of the quest for the fragments, and the second by some of the party somewhere around the middle. The last, has no witnesses, and that is where I will add my memories, and Kagome-Kami will send the journal to the future where it will bind with Dekuyume-B, turning her into Dekuyume-ABC with a forever of memories of the future/past, and a plan to save all of her precious people, even the ones she didn't know were precious yet."

"After finishing with the journal, Kagome-Kami and I will return here just moments after we leave, and we will all be free to live out our lives without worrying about keeping the secrets of time. Who knows, I may even feel like letting some of the other kami in on the secret, and putting them out of their misery." She grins, "Unless Kagome-chan gets us in some sort of trouble."

There are laughs all around. And she smiles secretly to herself as she finishes the last loop in her time traveling tale _no doubt the other mess has caused them to forget about Otousan in the castaway bottle. All well, they'll figure it out eventually._ "The freshly minted Dekuyume-Kami, and Kagome-C release their custody of their soul fragments held by Shikon-C. As it becomes a single soul, it is unable to maintain dominion over _The Eternal Battlefield_ -C. It searches for a primary operator and finding that one already exists, as well as another more powerful version of _The Eternal Battlefield_ it collapses into a seed of eternity. Shikon-C is born into the world with the magic it releases, as a result, every last one of my children is saved, and no one is sacrificed to save the others."

"After being acknowledged by both Kagome-chan(Kagome-C) and myself, and having the seed sprout, she became the primary operator of _The Colloquium of Souls_. A rather apt assignment given her familiarity with them. Then we just lived, loved, and learned."

"While Kagome-chan(Kagome-C) settled in to a happy marriage with the human Inuyasha-C, Jinenji began remaking the medicinal herb field he was promised when he became a vassal to house Higurashi. Sango and Kohaku returned to their village, and as the children and I moved through the world, we saw them occasionally. Only a few short years after our adventure, the kami issued the Division Proclamation. Unwilling to stand for our families being broken up or forced into a nature that did not suit them, we founded the Higurashi sanctuary. Held on the immortal plain between _The Well of Time_ , _The Little Mountain_ , _The Colloquium of Souls_ , and _The Sacred Tree_ , and secured by the same, albeit over-clocked, spell that Naraku used to hide his castle, and powered by _The Eternal Battlefield,_ it would remain hidden, and it's inhabitants safe."

"The exterminators, with their primary source of income gone, and dissatisfied after only a few years of being normal everyday people, would join us. Unwilling to deal with the kami who had threatened to break up their family, many of the souls that had gathered here would ask to be reincarnated directly by me. Kagome-chan(Kagome-C) was one of many to do so, though that wound up a little more complicated since she also wanted to merge with her Kami self when she made it back home."

Dekuyume smiles at them all, "And that is how we all got home." After taking a sip of her tea in the stunned silence, the kami of battlefields smirks slyly at her little brother, "I guess it's time for your epic quest now ne, Otouto?"

A thump is heard as the boys head hits the kotatsu, "Don't remind me."


End file.
